With a little help from Mario, Luigi and two Toads, the Wii scored first place on Media Create's weekly hardware chart, nearly doubling PS3s sales during the same period. Suppose that selling a half-million copies of New Super Mario Bros. Wii will do that for one's platform.

The non-LL sized DSi managed to just squeak past the PS3 this week, giving Nintendo second place, with the PSP managing a fourth place showing. And look, there's the PSPgo.

• Wii - 215,129
• Nintendo DSi - 113,984
• PlayStation 3 - 110,519
• PSP - 105,801
• Nintendo DSi LL - 81,430
• Nintendo DS Lite - 17,695
• Xbox 360 - 6,489
• PSPgo - 4,192
• PlayStation 2 - 3,747

It's that time of year again. Time to take a data dive into the heart of eBay U.S. to gauge how well the video game grey market fared during the holiday season. Rather than charting the sales numbers of a specific console, as I've done for the past three years with the Nintendo Wii, this year I'm presenting a broader overview of the eBay grey market, charting the sales for all major gaming platforms during the 30-day period beginning November 26th and ending on Christmas Day. I've compiled data on console sales, game listings, and some of the top-items passing through the popular auction website. If you want to know which platforms thrived, which handheld completely tanked, and the most successful video game-related item on eBay, then read on.

Console Sales

The table below presents a general overview of the sales performance of the major consoles and handheld systems during the month leading up to Christmas. I've listed the total sales in U.S. dollars, the number of items sold, the average selling price, and the sell-through percentage, which indicates the success of auctions posted for each specific product. Check out the table, and then we'll break things out by console.

PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 in all its varied incarnations sold the fewest number of consoles out of the big three this year, but that shouldn't be taken as a measure of the system's success. Indeed, if you look at the sell-through percentage, the PS3 comes out on top. That means there were less people selling, but plenty willing to buy. Since the launch of the PlayStation Slim earlier this year, Sony has maintained a steady supply of the consoles to retail outlets, and the abundance of available consoles equates less people looking for them on eBay.

From a seller's point of view, that high sell-through figure means the PlayStation 3 comes out on top in terms of sales potential.

The highest price PlayStation 3 auctions mainly consisted of limited edition consoles, including the Final Fantasy XIII bundle recently released in Japan.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 brought in the most money of any console this holiday season, mainly due to its average price being slightly higher than the Nintendo Wii, which pushed more units overall. The Microsoft console's sell-through numbers were only slightly lower than the PlayStation 3. Between that figure and the larger number of consoles put up for sales, it seems like putting a new 360 up for sales is seen as a relatively safe bet among sellers.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle made up a large portion of the Xbox 360 sales during the period, with 322 of the consoles representing $126,924 worth of sales. The Infinity Ward-flavored bundle went for as high as $900.

Wii

eBay sellers continue the love affair with the Wii that started with the console's 2006 holiday debut. The Wii was the top seller of the big three in terms of units sold, but the slightly lower sell-through rate indicates that there might have been a few too many up for sale.

Also note that the average price for the Wii was $190, which is below the suggested retail price. Either sellers were taking advantage of discounts and sales, or they weren't making very much in the way of profits.

DS

The Nintendo DS managed to outsell the newer, more advanced DSi this holiday season, pushing more than 2,000 units beyond what Nintendo's latest North American handheld sold. A failure for the DSi? Not exactly. Take a look at the sell-through percentage and you'll see that the DSi has the largest number of any game console. eBayers wanted to buy them, but the sellers just weren't selling.

PSP

The PSP sold strong on eBay this holiday, with the PSP-1000, 2000, and 3000 generating more money than any other handheld, though the DS trumped them with sheer numbers.

The top selling PSP was a used red God of War limited edition PSP, which went for $1,009.

Unfortunately, the PSPgo didn't fare nearly as well as its older brother. In fact, Sony's UMD-less alternative to the regular PSP performed abysmally, pushing only 250 units. It's not a factor of demand behind too high for supply either - the sell-through rate of 76.47% indicates that people simply weren't buying it.

To help paint a more complete picture, let's compare units sold versus monetary sales. If you look very closely, you'll notice that both graphs do indeed contain the PSPgo. You might need to zoom in.

Games With Legs

Now let's take a look at the games that traded this holiday season. This time around I took the top ten titles sorted by number of auctions, to see which ones were moving the most.

Certainly not a surprising list. Modern Warfare 2 seems to be showing up at the top of any list as far as sales are concerned these days, and Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort are two of the titles meant to showcase what the Wii can do, so those both sold in droves. World at War traded heavily, perhaps due to people swapping out the old for the new, and the Pure / Lego Batman combo disc packed inside select Xbox 360 consoles over the holiday season scores a tidy profit for those who received it for free.

And Uncharted 2 making the list makes sense, but what about the extremely more expensive edition?

Forty-five of the ultra-rare Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition made it onto eBay during the 30 days leading up to Christmas, but it seems some sellers set their hopes too high. Of the 45, only 24 sold, giving the package a 53.33% sell-through rate. The average price for the package was $891.52, with one going for as high as $1,136. Didn't get one? Maybe you should have made it to Kotaku's Child's Play fundraiser this year.

What People Look For In An Online Video Game Auction

Selling on eBay isn't just a matter of having a strong product, but being aware of what your prospective buyers are searching for and using search terms accordingly. Let's see if this list of the top 10 search terms used in both the games and system category can help.

The console search terms are pretty much common sense. Let's face it - if you're selling an Xbox 360 and you forget to include Xbox 360 in the title, there's something wrong with you. As far as game search terms go, folks initially seem to be going for specific games, but then desperation sets in. You have to be pretty desperate in order to type "Wii games" into an eBay search page.

Wii Remotes Are The New Hotcakes

Finally we come to the hottest selling video game item of the holiday season. With 8,359 items sold between November 26th and December 25th, the Nintendo Wii remote is the hottest selling gaming item this holiday season, generating more than $202,000 for sellers over the course of one month. The remote, bundled with a nunchuck, a skin, and a wrist-strap is sold as a "Nintendo Wii Remote+Nunchuck Game Controller+Skin 4 SET," though counting the wrist strap as an actual item is a bit shaky. Still, with The New Super Mario Bros. Wii making four-player gaming fun on the Wii, its no wonder the controllers are flying off the shelves, onto resellers' shelves, and then back off of the shelves again.

Another Year Goes By

And there you have the 2009 holiday season, summed up in 30 days of eBay data. A look into what happens to games and consoles once they pass from retail into the hands of the wheelers and dealers that populate the world's largest online marketplace. Bids were sniped, Buy It Now items were pounced, and in the end, everybody got feedback. A++++! Would research again!

Methodology
Statistics in the 2009 Grey Market Report were gathered using eBay market research tool Terapeak. Data was drawn for a 30 day period starting on November 26th and ending on December 25th. Console statistics were pulled directly from the Video Games / Systems subcategory to allow for mis-filed system listings, while game data was puled directly from the Video Game / Games subcategory. Console searches were limited to items in New condition, with a range of $100 to $1,000 used to ferret out accessories. Certain terms were omitted from the search in order to allow for a more accurate reporting of console pricing, including "games," "extras", "accessories," "lot," and others on a case-by-case basis - for instance, "Wii Fit" was omitted from search terms for the Wii in order to make sure systems bundled with Wii Fit did not influence the pricing data.

Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii returns to software sales chart dominance after a week off, moving another half-million copies in Japan. The Wii game beats out Link's newest adventure, giving The Legend of Zelda: Spirits Tracks a second place debut appearance on the charts with 291,000 copies sold. Nintendo also took third, with the astoundingly popular Tomodachi Collection.

That leaves Final Fantasy XIII in fourth place, moving another 189,000 copies this week, according to Media Create.

The rest of the top ten is all Nintendo—and Namco Bandai—with DS and Wii games outselling everything else in Japan. The numbers, after this.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 506,000 / 2,440,000
02. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) - 291,000 / NEW
03. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 227,000 / 2,317,000
04. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - 189,000 / 1,690,000
05. Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver (DS) - 125,000 / 3,465,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 114,000 / 1,315,000
07. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 99,000 / 908,000
08. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 72,000 / 1,568,000
09. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Yome! (Wii) - 64,000 / 200,000
10. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS) - 64,000 / 559,000

11. PokePark Wii: Pikachu no Daibouken (Wii)
12. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP)
13. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
14. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
15. Pen 1 Grand Prix: Penguin no Mondai Special (DS)
16. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PSP)
17. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
18. Momotarou Dentetsu 2010 Senkoku Ishin no Hero Daisyuugou ! No Ken (Wii)
19. Sengoku Musou 3 (Wii)
20. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP)
21. Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 3 (PSP)
22. Power Pro Kun Pocket 12 (DS)
23. Tamagotchi no Narikiri Channel (DS)
24. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
25. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
26. Dorabase 2: Nettou Urutorasu Tajiamu (DS)
27. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP)
28. Dragon Quest IX (DS)
29. Little Busters! Converted Edition (PS2)
30. Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakutan Cyber Pegasus (DS)

That big red slice in the Japanese hardware pie represents the 237,000-plus PS3s snapped up by gamers hungry for some Final Fantasy. And that similarly impressive slice of blue? That's the Wii, which managed to move over 190,000 units last week, according to Media Create.

Those big Wii sales—combined with similarly solid DS sales—gives Nintendo the dominant share of the pie this week, somewhat unexpected given Sony's install base spike with the PS3. Full numbers for all nine systems are after this.

• PlayStation 3 - 237,086
• Wii - 191,915
• Nintendo DSi - 95,227
• PSP - 79,194
• Nintendo DSi LL - 75,241
• Nintendo DS Lite - 12,879
• Xbox 360 - 8,965
• PSPgo - 3,260
• PlayStation 2 - 2,982

Quite well, especially if you consider the competition to be New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which has sold another 568,000 copies, just a hop, skip and jump away from crossing the two million mark in Japan. And speaking of selling two million copies of something to Japanese consumers, it appears Nintendo's other hit, Tomodachi Collection, has done just that. The Nintendo DS game once again shows off its long legs, securing third place behind Final Fantasy XIII and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

And what games would dare go up against Square Enix? Well, clothes-ripping, breast-teasing PSP game Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos, which moved 50,000 copies to horny Japanese gamers in its debut week.

A handful of other competitors also made first appearances on this week's Media Create software sales chart, highlighted below. Can you find them all?! Probably, since they've been bolded.

01. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - 1,502,000 / NEW
02. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 568,000 / 1,934,000
03. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 166,000 / 2,090,000
04. Pokemon SoulSilver / HeartGold (DS) - 111,000 / 3,340,000
05. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 93,000 / 1,201,000
06. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 71,000 / 808,000
07. PokePark Wii: Pikachu no Daibouken (Wii) - 71,000 / 192,000
08. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS) - 54,000 / 496,000
09. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) - 50,000 / 412,000
10. Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos (PSP) - 50,000 / NEW

11. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
12. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Yome! (Wii)
13. Pen 1 Grand Prix: Penguin no Mondai Special (DS)
14. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
15. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP)
16. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
17. Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 3 (PSP)
18. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PSP)
19. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
20. Sengoku Musou 3 (Wii)
21. Tales of Graces (Wii)
22. Power Pro Kun Pocket 12 (DS)
23. Stitch! Ohana to Rhythm de Daibouken (DS)
24. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
25. Tamagotchi no Narikiri Channel (DS)
26. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Ore Ga Bosu! Saikyou Famiri Taisen (DS)
27. Momotarou Dentetsu 2010 Senkoku Ishin no Hero Daisyuugou ! No Ken (Wii)
28. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
29. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS2)
30. Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakutan Cyber Pegasus (DS)

Enterbrain puts Final Fantasy XIII sales at over 1.5 million over the course of the game's first four days on Japanese store shelves, selling through a major portion of the reported 1.8 million copies shipped. About 1.1 million of those are apparently from day one sales.

The boon to the PlayStation 3? Some 240,000 plus consoles sold in one week, including that fancy Lightning Edition PS3 released alongside the exclusive-in-Japan role-playing game. That's a considerable spike, as the previous week's figures, according to sales tracker Media Create, shows some 75,000 PlayStation 3s sold in Japan the week before FF13 hit.

ファイナルファンタジー13、発売初週で実売150万本　PS3本体も週間24万台販売＝PS3歴代1位 [Yahoo! JP]

Anticipation for Final Fantasy XIII also means a big boost for the PlayStation 3, which moved an impressive 75,000 units in Japan this past week, a number we expect to see dwarfed next week when hardware numbers arrive.

Sales were up across the board with one exception, the PSPgo. And while the DSi shows strong, the Nintendo DSi LL isn't quite matching sales of its DS siblings. Sales were up over the week prior, but not in line with other variations on Nintendo's dual screen platform.

I mean, look at these numbers and tell me what you see.

• Wii - 135,898
• PlayStation 3 - 75,086
• PSP - 71,885
• Nintendo DSi - 68,184
• Nintendo DSi LL - 58,006
• Nintendo DS Lite - 11,376
• Xbox 360 - 10,646
• PSPgo - 3,077
• PlayStation 2 - 2,463

That's a total of 436,621 hardware units sold in Japan, according to Media Create, compared to 357,013 consoles and handhelds sold the week prior.

Sure, New Super Mario Bros. Wii's rock solid performance comes as little surprise and we expect to see the game at or near the top of the charts for weeks to come. Obviously we expect Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII to be right up there with it, but those figures won't be in until next week.

Other games that charted well this week, according to Japanese sales monitor Media Create, include Namco Bandai's Tales of Graces for the Wii, the Japanese version(s) of Modern Warfare 2, and the latest Naruto title for PSP.

For the rest of the top thirty games in Japan for the week of December 7 to 13, read on, list reader.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 431,000 / 1,366,000
02. Tales of Graces (Wii) - 143,000 / NEW
03. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 102,000 / 1,924,000
04. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) - 93,000 / NEW
05. Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 3 (PSP) - 77,000 / NEW
06. Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver (DS) - 75,000 / 3,228,000
07. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) - 74,000 / 361,000
08. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 64,000 / 1,109,000
09. PokePark Wii: Pikachu no Daibouken (Wii) - 57,000 / 121,000
10. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP) - 57,000 / 280,000

11. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS)
12. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
13. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS)
14. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PSP)
15. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS2)
16. Sengoku Musou 3 (Wii)
17. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
18. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Yome! (Wii)
19. Luminous Arc 3: Eyes (DS)
20. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
21. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
22. Power Pro Kun Pocket 12 (DS)
23. Kyoukugen Dasshutsu 9 Jikan 9 nin 9 no Tobira (DS)
24. Momotarou Dentetsu 2010 Senkoku Ishin no Hero Daisyuugou ! No Ken (Wii)
25. Assassin's Creed II (PS3)
26. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS3)
27. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
28. Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakutan Cyber Pegasus (DS)
29. Stitch! Ohana to Rhythm de Daibouken (DS)
30. Tokimeki Memorial 4 (PSP)

Media Create Weekly Software Sales [Gpara]

"Have you played (insert game here)?" It's a question most of us have asked when considering a video game purchase, and the answers given are often more influential than marketing campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A study released today by study released today by global integrated communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Harris Interactive. Industry trade groups, surveyed 507 adult gamers between June 6th to July 27th of this year, finding that 33% of those who had purchased a game within the six months prior to the study cited word of mouth from family and friends as the biggest influence on their purchase.

More powerful than friends are a subset being called "Influence Multipliers," friends who are more connected to other gamers, therefor having a much larger say in what other players play. Of the 507 surveyed, 21% were identified as "Influence Multipliers"

"Compared to all video gamers, Influence Multipliers are a hyper influential subset of friends who are also far more connected to other gamers," said Dan Gallagher, senior vice president, Insight & Analytics at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "As a result, Influence Multipliers have an outsized network influence effect on their gaming colleagues. By targeting the media channels that Influence Multipliers rely on, marketers can optimize their marketing spending."

Gallagher's advice here is something that politicians have been using for ages. You don't have to influence everyone - just the ones who influence everyone else. Words to market by.

The remainder of the chart shows that advertising and promotions accounted for a mere 11% of influenced purchases, beaten by game reviews, demos, and retail presence.

I'd say that actual advertising is most effective for non-gamers, with gamers being so connected these days that we don't need advertisements to know a game is coming out. We don't need to be made aware of a game's existence, just its quality, and for that, we turn to each other. Group hug, everybody!

According to updated figures from the NPD Group, as reported by IndustryGamers, Nintendo is set to dominate software sales here in the States. It's presence in the top ten bestselling games of the year (through November) give the company six of the top ten spots, with five Wii games and one Nintendo DS contributing more than 13.5 million sales so far this year.

It's mostly what you'd expect—Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Pokemon Platinum, Wii Play, Wii Sports Resort. And Nintendo will have to settle for second behind Modern Warfare 2. But we won't be surprised to see this list change, maybe including one more Nintendo game, by end of year.

NPD: Top 10 Games Through November Reveal Nintendo Dominance [IndustryGamers]

Japanese Wii sales more than doubled on the release—and massive sales—of the new four-player Mario game, putting Nintendo's console well ahead of its closest competitor, the PSP. Sony's portable platform saw a solid boost from the release of Phantasy Star Portable 2 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus.

Sony's other lead platform, the PlayStation 3, saw a nice uptick in sales too. Perhaps for Assassin's Creed II, perhaps just due to seasonal spending, but enough to give it a third place showing.

With those three consoles at the top, that means previous hardware chart topper, the Nintendo DSi LL, had to settle for fourth, just ahead of the regular-sized DSi.

Here's how sales tracker Media Create saw the Japanese hardware contest shake down last week.

• Wii - 106,555
• PSP - 67,880
• PlayStation 3 - 57,782
• Nintendo DSi LL - 53,791
• Nintendo DSi - 51,635
• Nintendo DS Lite - 8,367
• Xbox 360 - 5,314
• PSPgo - 3,412
• PS2 - 2,277

GameSpot reports that the majority of those sales were to Wii gamers, with 67,000 copies of Tony Hawk Ride and the accompanying skateboard sold to the peripheral comfortable Nintendo fan base. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers snapped up the rest, with the 360 version outselling the PS3 version almost two-to-one.

That's behind Activision's other recent controller-dependent, high ticket game, DJ Hero, which debuted with 123,000 units sold in the U.S. in October.

That's potentially disappointing for Activision, which went back to the drawing board after the previous entry in the series Tony Hawk's Proving Ground saw middling reviews—some of the lowest in the series—and hefty competition from EA's Skate. Metacritic scores aside, Proving Ground at least went on to sell more than a million units in the U.S. across the five platforms it was released on.

Tony Hawk may be "proud" of Ride, but it appears that U.S. video game consumers (and critics) may have a harder time getting on board.

Under 114,000 ride Tony Hawk in November [GameSpot]

Before you read this analysis, open up some tabs or windows with McWhertor's NPD November U.S. hardware and software reports.

We're doing Instant Analysis differently this time. Now you have options. Be sure to choose the correct one. Note that all numbers are plucked from the NPD group's U.S. sales charts.

Fact: In 2007, Super Mario Galaxy, a 3D Mario game, sold 1.12 million copies in November (launched on the 12th) in the U.S.. In 2009, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a 2D Mario game, sold 1.39 million in its November (launched on the 15th).

Possible Analysis
1) 2D is more popular than 3D?
2) So many more Wiis two years later didn't net so many more sales, so 3D is more popular than 2D?
3) None of this matters because Wii owners are an unpredictable lot and buy their games when they want to, not necessarily when release day hits.

Fact: In 2007, Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare sold 2.14 million on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in its first November (launched on the 6th) in the U.S.. The sequel, Modern Warfare 2 did 6.07 million on those same two consoles in its first November (launched on the 10th).

Possible Analysis
1) Modern Warfare is an out of control juggernaut, a beast set to trample all contenders.
2) So few other games came out this past month compared to November 2007 that gamers were stuck - just stuck — buying MW2. What else were they going to buy?
3) Once in love with a gaming franchise, consumers show up on day one.

Fact: In 2007, Assassin's Creed sold 1.6 million copies on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in its first month (launched on the 14th) in the U.S.. In 2009, Assassin's Creed II sold 1.2 million copies in its first month (launched on the 17th). ... All of which doesn't exactly explain Ubisoft saying its second Creed was selling more quickly in its first week, worldwide, than its first.

Possible Analysis
1) Uh, oh, Ezio? With more consoles in the market and better reviews, the new game not outselling the first out of the gate in America is a problem that can possibly be blamed on the mixed word of mouth received by the first entry?
2) The ever-important Italian-American user-based was split, wooed over to Mario from ACII's Ezio.
3) The 360 fans have beef with this series, as they bought 185,000 fewer copies of the new one in November '09 than they did of the first one in November '07, while the PS3 community bought 71,000 more.

Fact: Left 4 Dead 2 sold 80% better on the Xbox 360 in its first month this year than its predecessor did last year (The games launched on the 18th in '08 and the 17th in '09).

Possible Analysis
1) Gamers want Valve to start cranking out annual sequels.
2) Zombies are more popular now than they were last year.
3) Internet complaints/petitions against hasty Valve sequels don't count (though, you'd craftily add, who knows about how well the game performed on PC).

Notable new releases that failed to make the overall software top 10 (With no console or handheld version selling more than 315,000 units in the U.S. by November 28): Style Savvy (November 2), Lego Rock Band (November 3), Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage (November 8), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex (November 10), EA Sports Active More Workouts (November 17), Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (November 17), Tony Hawk Ride (November 17).

It would appear that Modern Warfare 2's big software sales numbers on the Xbox 360 had a nice effect on Microsoft's showing last month. After being outsold by the cheaper, slimmer PlayStation 3 in September and October, the 360 outsold its high-def competition by more than 100,000 units.

The PSP and PlayStation 2 round out the bottom half of the list, with nearly a half-million units sold between the two platforms. November's 200,000-plus sales for the PS2 represent its 109th month on the NPD charts.

Here's how the NPD Group saw November's U.S. hardware contest shaking down.

• Nintendo DS - 1,700,000
• Wii - 1,260,000
• Xbox 360 - 819,500
• PlayStation 3 - 710,400
• PSP - 293,900
• PlayStation 2 - 203,100

Total hardware sales were $1.05 billion. That's a 13.4% drop from November of 2008, when all three consoles were considerably more expensive.

Here's NPD Group Anita Frazier with some silver lining.

"While there has been a lot of focus on Wii sales as compared to last year, the system was still the best-selling console system by a margin of 54%," Frazier notes. "At this same point in the PS2 lifecycle, the PS2 was down in unit sales by 23% over the previous year, but as history has shown, it continues to have a great deal of life left in it. So focusing on a comparison to Wii's stellar 2008 performance masks the reality of just how well this system is selling."

"The PS3 realized the greatest increase over last year's November sales and had its third best month in unit sales ever, coming in just under Decembers '07 and '08."

That puts it ahead of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, ahead of Mario Kart Wii, and ahead of everything else released in Japan this week. While two new PSP games—Phantasy Star Portable 2 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus—scored second and third place with impressive numbers, their sales couldn't come close to the newest of New Super Mario Bros.

And speaking of New Super Mario Bros., the Nintendo DS original is still represented well on this week's chart, managing to score 24th place this week, many years after its initial debut.

As for the new games, Assassin's Creed II managed a top ten showing, as did PokePark for the Wii. In danger of slipping from Media Create's top thirty is poor old Dragon Quest IX. Hang in there, DQ!

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 953,000 / NEW
02. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) - 287,000 / NEW
03. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP) - 223,000 / NEW
04. Sengoku Musou 3 (Wii) - 121,000 / NEW
05. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS) - 85,000 / 392,000
06. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 75,000 / 1,822,000
07. PokePark Wii: Pikachu no Daibouken (Wii) - 64,000 / NEW
08. Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver (DS) - 63,000 / 3,153,000
09. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 52,000 / 1,044,000
10. Assassin's Creed II (PS3) - 49,000 / NEW

11. Tokimeki Memorial 4 (PSP)
12. Power Pro-Kun Pocket 12 (DS)
13. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS)
14. Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakutan Cyber Pegasus (DS)
15. Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes W (Wii)
16. Assassin's Creed II (Xbox 360)
17. Momotarou Dentetsu 2010 Senkoku Ishin no Hero Daisyuugou ! No Ken (Wii)
18. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
19. Stitch! Ohana to Rhythm de Daibouken (DS)
20. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Yome! (Wii)
21. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
22. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS3)
23. Kaiju Busters (DS)
24. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
25. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
26. J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 6: Pride of J (PSP)
27. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
28. Tamagotchi no Narikiri Channeru (DS)
29. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (The Best) (PSP)
30. Dragon Quest IX (DS)

Media Create Weekly Software Sales [Gpara]

More than a million racing fans snapped up copies of Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 3 during its first month at retail, with players logging more than 6.6 million man hours playing online. Those man hours (as opposed to dog hours - dogs can't drive) were spent in more than 64 million connected sessions covering approximately 590 million miles of track.

In other words, a lot of people have been playing Forza 3.

And perhaps a good portion of those million people will be picking up the Hot Holidays car pack, available today, featuring ten of of the world's most anticipated race cars of 2009 and 2010. Cars like the new Ferrari 458 Italia and the latest Nissan GT-R Spec V. Cars like this:

1. 2010 Ferrari 599XX
2. 2010 Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss
3. 2010 Lamborghini LP6700-4 SV
4. 2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo
5. 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
6. 2010 Jaguar XFR
7. 2010 Audi S4
8. 2009 Aston Martin #007 AMR Lola
9. 2009 Audi #2 Sport Team Joest R15 TDI
10. 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V

Yes sir, that is definitely a list of cars, all of which can be yours today for 400 Microsoft points. Just make sure to save some points for January 12th, when Turn 10 releases another pack to coincide with the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

It's also running a free-shipping promo that isn't all that glamorous, but is worth a mention: Free shipping on The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS, and free shipping on all pre-ordered games.

You can check out the deals here. Alert reader bjorked noticed in yesterday's Weekend Coupons that the sale was announced in this weekend's Toys 'R Us circular.

Toys 'R Us: Video Games [site]

Japanese retail blog Sinobi's estimates put New Super Mario Bros. Wii's first day sales ahead of that of Super Mario Galaxy's, which managed 256,000 units sold in its first week on Japanese store shelves. But the Wii follow-up to New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS will likely fall short of its portable predecessor. New Super Mario Bros. DS racked up some 900,000 units sold during week one.

Some of Mario's other Wii games started a little stronger out of the gate, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl (816,000 units sold) and Mario Kart Wii (608,00 units sold). Expect more solid numbers to arrive mid-week.

「ニュー・スーパーマリオブラザーズ・Wii」初日で42万本を販売、他｜忍之閻魔帳 [Sinobi via AndriaSang]

While the PSP continues to sell well in Japan—another 38,000 handhelds sold—the PSPgo managed to move less than 4,000 units in the past week, according to sales tracker Media Create. That puts it in Xbox 360 territory, perhaps an indicator of Japanese consumer hardware acceptance for the download-only device.

Sony's PlayStation 3, on the other hand, continues to move at a good clip, with hardware sales way up from the week prior. It managed to be outsold by the Wii this week, but by a mere 115 units. Media Create's numbers are after this.

• Nintendo DSi LL - 67,243
• Wii - 46,673
• PlayStation 3 - 46,558
• PSP - 38,839
• Nintendo DSi - 37,021
• Nintendo DS Lite - 7,268
• PSPgo - 3,809
• Xbox 360 - 3,685
• PlayStation 2 - 2,057

Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke didn't have much in the way of competition this week, with cute railroad sim Momotaro Dentetsu 2010: Sengoku Ishin no Hero Daishuugou! no Maki and Cave shoot 'em up Mushihimesama Futari Ver. 1.5 debuting closest to Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue at spots 5 and 11, respectively.

The top ten is mostly Nintendo platform content, with bestsellers Tomodachi Collection and Pokemons Heart Gold and Soul Silver holding strong in the sales department, Wii Fit Plus backing them up.

For near total Nintendo-mination, check out the full top thirty.

01. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS) - 306,000 / NEW
02. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 59,000 / 1,748,000
03. Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver (DS) - 55,000 / 3,090,000
04. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 47,000 / 993,000
05. Momotaro Dentetsu 2010: Sengoku Ishin no Hero Daishuugou! no Maki (Wii) - 44,000 / NEW
06. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 28,000 / 664,000
07. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS3) - 30,000 / 312,000
08. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS) - 19,000 / 42,000
09. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 17,000 / 1,396,000
10. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Yome! (Wii) - 16,000 / 45,000

11. Mushihimesama Futari Ver. 1.5 (Xbox 360)
12. J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 6: Pride of J (PSP)
13. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
14. Naruto: Shippuden Ryujinki (Wii)
15. Dragon Ball Raging Blast (PS3)
16. La Pucell: Ragnarok (PSP)
17. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
18. Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden (DS)
19. Higurashi Daybreak Portable: Mega Edition (PSP)
20. Tamagotchi no Narikiri Channeru (DS)
21. Dorabase 2: Nettou Urutorasu Tajiamu (DS)
22. Dragon Quest IX (DS)
23. Persona 3 Portable (PSP)
24. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) (PSP)
25. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
26. Armored Core Portable: Silent Line (PSP)
27. Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360)
28. Strike Witches: Aoi no Dengekisen - Shin Taichou Funtousuru! (DS)
29. Mega Man Battle Network: Operating Shooting Star (DS)
30. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)

Media Create Weekly Software Sales [Gpara]