November NPD: big franchises, new consoles drive industry sales up 34% [update 1]

The above headline shouldn't come as a great surprise to many gamers, what with November having been a deadly obstacle course of top-tier franchises and console debuts. Surviving the month with wallet unscathed was quite impossible, a fact clearly reflected in the NPD's sales data for the period which typically sees manufacturers clash in full force, guns blazing. Consumers caught in the cash crossfire spent an impressive $1.7 billion in total, with console, software and accessory sales all seeing notable increases. The NPD's Anita Frazier told GameDaily BIZ that she expects this to be a record-breaking year for the industry, with total sales expected to come in at $14 billion.

In the interest of having you maintain consciousness, we've put the most pertinent information into those convenient bullet-point things (it also ties in nicely with our earlier gun metaphor):

Console Sales (units)

• DS: 918k

• PS2: 664k

• Game Boy Advance: 661k
  

• Xbox 360: 511k

• Wii: 476k

• PSP: 412k

• PS3: 197k
  

Software Sales (units and sales grossed)

• Gears of War: 1 million -- $61.5 million
  

• Final Fantasy XII: 896k -- $49 million
  

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: 412k -- $20.2 million
  

• Guitar Hero II: 356k -- $20.2 million

Check out the full report for even more numbers and commentary -- mind you don't go cross-eyed.

[Update 1: PSP information added.]