360 sales double PS3 in US

The Nintendo Wii was the best-selling console in North America last month, while the Xbox 360 outsold PlayStation 3 by more than 2 to 1.

According to analysts the NPD Group, 403,600 Wii units were shifted during August. The figure for DS stood at 383,300. In third place was Xbox 360 after a $50 price cut boosted sales to 276,700.

Perennial favourite PlayStation 2 continues to do well, with 202,000 units sold - not bad for an old timer. As for Sony's young whippersnappers, 151,200 PSP units and 130,600 PS3s were sold.

A good time was had by all the platform holders and publishers, as hardware and software sales were up by 46 per cent over last year's to reach nearly A BILLION DOLLARS. Nearly.

Madden NFL '08 for Xbox 360 was the best-selling game of the month with 896,600 copies sold, followed by the PS2 version (643,600). Madden Wii didn't do so well, reaching No. 11 in the all-formats chart, while the version for Ye Olde Xbox was at 12 and the PSP game was down at 18.

The third best-selling game for August was BioShock (490,900). In fourth place was Madden again - the PS3 version this time (336,200).

Wii Play was at No. 5, while Metroid Prime 3 took sixth place and Mario Strikers: Charged was in seventh. The Guitar Hero II controller bundle for PS2 was at No. 8, pushing Mario Party 8 down to No. 9. Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s rounded off the top ten nicely.