June NPD: Nintendo WiiDS out competition, industry sales grow 31%

Completely unaware of the abysmal news headlines it would generate, the NPD group has released US video game sales data for the month of June. Painting a familiar picture of Nintendo perched atop a mountain of freshly printed money, the results indicate that prosperity is shared throughout the whole industry. GameDaily.BIZ reports that sales for the month are up by 31% compared to last, with half of the year showing a 43% increase over the first six months of 2006. Console hardware sales notably rose by 69% to $268 million, though portable game hardware dropped by 6%.

Unsurprisingly, the top-selling system for June was the Nintendo DS, followed by waggle wonder Wii. The PSP wedged itself into third place, (thanks April price cut!), right above the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. We suspect Sony's behemoth will gain enough momentum from the recent $100-off clearance sale to break through the 100,000 sales barrier next month. That'll teach you, GBA!

• Nintendo DS: 561.9K
  

• Nintendo Wii: 381.8K

• Sony PSP: 290.1K [Updated]
  

• Sony PlayStation 2: 270.7K (via Sony press release)

• Microsoft Xbox 360: 198.4K

• Sony PlayStation 3: 98.5K

[Thanks again for the image, Vince]

The software top 10 also shows a strong Nintendo presence, with the upper spots overrun with pocket monsters and portly plumbers. Mario Party 8 sold just over 426,000 copies, proving a much bigger hit with grandma than Resident Wii-vil, which sold less than Pokémon Battle's 157,000 copies and Forza 2's 197,400 copies. It seems that unlike those dealing with the Xbox 360, third-party Wii publishers can't rely on a "hardcore" audience swooping en masse from one game to the next.

1. Mario Party 8 (Wii)

2. Wii Play w/remote (Wii)

3. Pokémon Diamond (DS)

4. Pokémon Pearl (DS)

5. Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)

6. Guitar Hero II w/guitar (PS2)

7. Guitar Hero II w/guitar (Xbox 360)

8. Pokémon Battle (Wii)

9. Resident Evil 4 (Wii)

10. The Darkness (Xbox 360)