• only in the u.s.

    Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tops U.S. Best Sellers

    Who's got the best selling games in the United States of America? Nintendo, naturally. According to a report from Gamasutra, the publisher has secured four of the five best-selling games of 2008 so far in the U.S. of A. Topping the elite sales club is Super Smash Bros. Brawl with an estimated 3.5 million copies sold, better than Mario Kart Wii and the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360. With the PlayStation 3 version selling an estimated 1.8 million, GTA IV would top the chart if sales were combined. Potentially more surprising is the one game that landed in the top five this year and last year. More »

    6:00 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    10,293 views, 123 comments

    Most discussed UltimatePancakeSensation: Shame the online was such a disappointment. Just goes to show that if you can get enough hype for more »

  • sales charts

    October's NPD Also-Rans

    All hail the top ten-selling games for October, as they are showered in glory and accolades from an adoring public. And while you're hailing, spare a thought for those games that sold OK, but not well enough to make the top ten. Below you'll find the games that finished 11-20 for the month. Like Connor MacLeod from the Clan MacLeod already said, Guitar Hero dominates with three entries, while FIFA shows the round ball game isn't the hit in the US it is in the Old World. Feel-good story of the day? It's Kirby - yes, Kirby Super Star Ultra - doing the DS proud, coming in at #13. More »

    7:20 PM on Fri Nov 14 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    4,159 views, 29 comments

    Most discussed sascha23: Well, more PS3 titles in there than 360 titles. Way to go Fable II, LBP, Fallout 3 and Dead Space. A more »

  • rock soap opera

    Guitar Hero World Tour Doubles Rock Band 2's October Take

    The release of yesterday's top ten best selling software in the U.S. was curiously absent of any rhythm game presence. No Guitar Hero World Tour, no Wii Music, no Rock Band 2, all of which saw new releases in October. A look at the top twenty, however, shows that, save for Wii Music, that Guitar Hero World Tour outsold the debut of Rock Band 2 on the PlayStation 3. And, according to a report from GameDaily, the Activision Blizzard published game outdid the Rock Band competition in dollar sales by about two to one.

    Yes, Rock Band 2's debut on the Xbox 360 in September gives Guitar Hero the advantage of dropping four new SKUs at once. But it appears Guitar Hero World Tour is already catching up, moving 534,000 units last month. Activision Blizzard is closing the gap and it would appear Harmonix, EA and MTV Games have some competition.

    Guitar Hero World Tour's Dollar Sales More Than Double Rock Band 2 [GameDaily]

    4:40 PM on Fri Nov 14 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    3,748 views, 87 comments

    Most discussed MoeB: The better game made the most money? I'm not surprised. more »

  • corporate gloating

    Microsoft Responds To October NPD Sales, Seems Pleased

    With Fable II topping the software charts and the Xbox 360 outselling the PlayStation 3 almost two to one in the U.S., we'd imagine that Microsoft is putting all that nasty Summer underperformance behind it. The company responded to solid hardware sales in October, saying it "outsold PS3 by nearly 2:1 this month." Hey! We already said that!

    Microsoft's response also notes worldwide sales of Fable II, now over 1.5 million copies. Gears of War 2 also gets touted for its 2 million copies sold and 1.5 million log ins via Xbox Live. The company is also careful to remind you that some games you won't buy at anywhere nearly that rate — You’re in the Movies and Lips — are coming out.

    The usual numbers are trotted out — the attach rate, the third party success, the ship date of the New Xbox Experience. You know the drill. If not, hit up the official statement. It's gloaty! More »

    8:20 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    3,801 views, 64 comments

    Most discussed squishyfishy: Okay. the guy in the pic. WHO IS HE? What movie is it anyway? He was one of the imaginationland characters more »

  • corporate gloating

    Nintendo Responds To October NPD Sales, Seems Pleased

    When you're consistently moving well over a million units of hardware in the U.S. every month, how can you not have a spring in your step? Nintendo does, plugging in October's NPD sales data into this month's statement. Nintendo sold 803,210 Wiis and 491,176 Nintendo DSs in October, bringing lifetime to date sales to 13.35 million and 23.02 million respectively.

    And Wii Fit? Chalk up 2.83 million in the U.S. alone in six months. I can't even imagine how fit we're going to be in a year's time.

    Ms. Cammie Dunaway, who Wii Balance Boards with the best of 'em, does her economic downturn best, pointing out that Nintendo "provides consumers with the best value not only among video games, but also among most entertainment options." Oh, the value of it all! More »

    8:00 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    2,375 views, 38 comments

    Most discussed Xebu: I'd still like to know why the Wii is considered current-gen? It's a GameCube (last generations whipping boy) console re-packaged with more »

  • corporate gloating

    Sony Responds To October NPD Sales, Seems Pleased

    Let's face it. The PlayStation family didn't blow any socks off with its performance for the month of October. In the U.S. the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PSP were sitting at the bottom half of the the hardware standings, all showing a decline from the previous month, a month that happened to be shorter. But when life hands you lemons, there's a public relations team member tasked with making lemonade.

    Sony's internal take on October? It wasn't so bad, as it entered the holiday season with "consistent momentum." And PlayStation 3 sales were definitely up year over year (56 percent!) with 30 new titles launched in October alone amounting to 2.3 million units of software sold.

    There's also some 14 million registered PSN accounts, 43 million PS2s out there and Don’t Mess with the Zohan on the PlayStation Video Store. And for the year, $4.4 billion in revenue isn't so bad. So why no quote from SCEA president Jack Tretton? :( More »

    7:30 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    4,709 views, 134 comments

    Most discussed Foxstar Sixtail: Ah, I got to love the spin this time of month.' -PSN numbers still don't match Live's and why are you more »

  • npd group

    Fable II Has Epic October Sales, Peter Molyneux Seems Pleased

    Lionhead Studios' Fable II outsold the software competition in the United States last month with stunning sales of almost 800,000 copies. The Xbox 360 exclusive bested perennial Wii best-seller Wii Fit in the United States, but the Balance Board game held its #2 position from last month with close to another half-million units sold. Xbox 360 software was responsible for half of the top ten best-selling games in the U.S. in October, with Fallout 3, Saints Row 2, NBA 2K9 and Dead Space joining Fable II as the month's stand outs.

    Sony's PlayStation 3 exclusives SOCOM Confrontation and LittleBigPlanet didn't quite fare as well as Microsoft's chart toppers. LittleBigPlanet, which was only on sale for four days in October, moved a little more than 200,000 copies.

    Nintendo's Wii standbys saw another month of excellent sales, with Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play moving close to 300,000 copies each. Nintendo's Wii Music, however, didn't crack the top ten during its debut month. The full list of software best sellers is after this. More »

    5:20 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    10,873 views, 110 comments

    Most discussed maniacmayhem: LttlBgFl more »

  • npd group

    Wii Sells 800K In October, Xbox 360 Almost 2:1 Over PS3

    The Wii topped NPD Group sales data once again for the month of October, selling over 800,000 units to consumers in the United States. That's well over twice what its closest console competitor, the Xbox 360, did during the same period. It's also a sizable jump over September's take, when the Wii sold 687,000 units. Nintendo DS sales were down from October, but total Nintendo hardware sales were up to almost 1.3 million units.

    According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, the jump in Wii sales can be attributed to a greater supply of hardware at retail. That made October the Wii's best month since December of 2007. Frazier notes that the September period consisted of five weeks of sales, with October a shorter four week month.

    Here's how the hardware contest ultimately went down. More »

    4:40 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    12,242 views, 239 comments

    Most discussed Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic: I really hope Sony is taking all of this to heart. A $200 - $250 SKU would solve 99% more »

  • sales charts

    PC Sales Charts

    The NPD sales charts are traditionally a little...sketchy when it comes to PC sales. But for the week ending November 1, they look right on the money, with Fallout 3 taking not just the top spot, but 3rd and 9th spot as well with the two collectors editions. With the game still charting well on both Steam and Direct2Drive, you can easily see where a lot (least the PC side of things) of those 4.7 million shifted copies went. More »

    9:20 PM on Wed Nov 12 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    5,969 views, 52 comments

    Most discussed WatershipDown: "you can easily see where a lot of those 4.7 million shifted copies went." If all the PC games added up more »

  • npd

    iPhone Sees Spike in Game Playing

    iPhone owners love their gaming, according to a report due out later today from the NPD Group.

    The Portable Devices study questioned 3,258 people about their use of their Playstation Portable, DS, iPods, iPhones and smartphones from Sept. 16 through Sept. 23. According to the study at least half of the owners of these devices use them about the same or more today than they were three months ago.

    More smartphone owners are playing games than using business-related applications on their devices, according to the report. Despite the increase in gaming, the most popular purchase across the board is still music which averages 4.2 to 6 purchases a month.

    It will be interesting to see how game usage on the iPhone compares to gaming on other smartphones and gaming-dedicated devices like the PSP and the DS. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to check that out when the full report hits.

    I'd bet that I tend to use my iPhone for more gaming than I do my PSP or DS, mostly because I do a lot of short gaming sessions while killing time in lines, cars, meetings, etc, etc, etc. More »

    8:00 AM on Tue Nov 11 2008
    By Brian Crecente
    2,732 views, 24 comments