Nintendo atop the monthly NPD hardware charts? You do. Not. Say. Nintendo consoles again kicked the collective asses of the competition, with the Wii coming in at #1 and the DS at #2. But that's not the interesting part. You knew that was coming. No, the interesting part comes in looking at the four non-Nintendo consoles. And how only 81,000 units separates third from last.

The 360 can't be in that short supply, as it sold 262,000 units, still managing to (just) beat out the PS3. The PS2, well it kept on being relevant, but all three were beaten by the resurgent PSP, of which 297,000 were sold during the month.

01. Nintendo Wii - 721,000
02. Nintendo DS - 698,000
03. PlayStation Portable - 297,000
04. Xbox 360 - 262,000
05. PlayStation 3 - 257,000
06. PlayStation 2 - 216,000

Total hardware sales were $551.3 million, up 46% from the same time last year, when "only" $377.9 million worth of consoles were offloaded onto unsuspecting customers.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier reckons "Nintendo's hardware figures this month are definitely noteworthy. Super Smash Brothers Brawl along with a greater supply of inventory helped the Wii to capture the highest single month unit sales of any platform outside the holiday timeframe. NDS sales were most likely spurred by a combination of increased retail promotional activity along with a greater supply at retail, which is now allowing some of that pent-up consumer demand to be satisfied".

Hmm, yes, I totally agree. Now it's back to my morning coffee and profuse nodding.

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