August NPDs: Xbox 360 on top again
Wii has worst month since launch.
The Xbox 360 has notched up a second consecutive month as America's best selling console - even beating the DS. Conversely, the Wii has recorded its worst month of sales since launch.
August sales data, collected by the NPD Group, put the winning total at 356,700 sales.
"The tortoise keeps going," commented MS bigwig Aaron Greenberg on Twitter.
The Wii managed 244,300 sales, which was only marginally ahead of PlayStation 3's 226,000 sales. And the DS racked up 342,700 sales, which was far in excess of PSP's 79,400.
Games for Microsoft's console also claimed five of the top 10 software spots. Madden 11 ruled the roost, shifting a massive 920,800 units on Xbox 360 and 893,600 units on PS3. Compared with 124,600 sales of Super Mario Galaxy 2 in second, and the dominance of EA Sports' title speaks for itself.
Newcomer Mafia II was well represented (as it has been in the UK all-formats chart), landing fourth on Xbox 360 (121,600 sales) and seventh on PS3 (sales not listed past fifth).
And despite having a relatively bad month, the Wii still managed a further two top 10 entries: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (6th) and Wii Fit Plus (10th).
The remaining games were New Super Mario Bros. on DS (5th - 110,400 sales), Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 (8th) and NCAA Football 11 on Xbox 360 (9th).
One notable absentee was StarCraft II, which NPD recorded 300,000 sales for during August. However, PC games fall under "total entertainment sales" and so are not listed.
After analysing the numbers, NPD's Anita Frazier wrote that September could be "a huge sales month for Xbox 360" with Halo: Reach. She also recognised PS3's 13 month of consecutive sales growth.
"Looking forward, Halo: Reach releases on 14th September and will kick off the mega-title releases for the remainder of the year. The 360 install base is now about triple what it was when Halo 3 was launched so the potential audience for Reach is significantly larger," wrote Frazier.
"Between the size of the potential audience, the quality of the game previews, and the hefty marketing program behind the game, we can expect big numbers to be reported with September results."