NPD Hardware: Reign of the Nintendo Wii Goes On Uncontested

If there's one thing you can safely count on after the release of the NPD Group hardware numbers for February is the fact that all major console creators, from Nintendo to Sony and even to Microsoft, will be claiming that the numbers offer them an advantage over their competitors.

Until the new inevitable press releases come crashing in, let's take a coherent and neutral look at the numbers. We should start with the statement that the videogame industry grew over January 2008 by 10%, which is good given the economic situation. Sales of gaming hardware was up by 11%.

The NPD Group tracked sales in North America for the month of February and found that the Nintendo Wii is still the best sold gaming console, managing to even sell more than in January, at 753,000 units moved to customers.

Second place went to the Nintendo DS handheld, which sold 588,000 consoles and is set to get a further boost in the coming months, as the new and improved Nintendo DSi is launched in the United States. The third spot in the hardware charts has been taken up by the Microsoft manufactured Xbox 360, which posted a sales figure of 391,000, a big improvement over January.

The PlayStation 3 also saw an increase in sales, going from 203,000 in January to 276,000 units in February. This was probably due to the release of the exclusive shooter Killzone 2 and because of the good performance that Street Fighter IV has on the PS3. The PlayStation Portable sold worse than the PS3, at only 199,000, while the PlayStation 2 still managed to move 131,000 consoles.

What to expect in the future? Microsoft will point out having thrashed the PlayStation 3 by about 50%, Sony will say that the PlayStation brand has sold better than the Xbox 360, while Nintendo will be content to know that it has outsold its two rivals combined. Good times for everyone.