Gamasutra has crunched the NPD video game sales numbers and the results show that the top five best-selling games on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 in the U.S. from January to the end of June were, save one 360 title, all released in 2009. The likes of UFC Undisputed, Resident Evil 5, Halo Wars and Killzone 2 top the charts, with just the Xbox 360 version of 2008's Call of Duty: World at War being the lone game from yesteryear.

The Wii, however, boasts just EA Sports Active among its five best-sellers of 2009 so far. The other four slots are taken up by Wii Fit (at #1), Wii Play (#2), Mario Kart Wii (#3) and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (#5).

The Wii news can be viewed in positive or negative lights. On the one hand, it suggests that no 2009 Wii offerings — not Punch-Out!, not Boom Blox Bash Party, not Sega's trio of hardcore-oriented originals — could garner top-level sales. But it also is a sign that the Wii, more so than its competitors, has managed to cultivate evergreen games that sell year after year.

Evergreen games are not unique to the Wii. In the previous hardware generation, the Grand Theft Auto games were monthly top-list entries on the PlayStation 2. Halo and Halo 2 consistently ranked among the best-selling games on the Xbox.

But the extent to which the Wii has established a selection of mainstay titles is striking in both how it compares to the competition and what it suggests about the longevity of games made for the platform. Critics long ago said Nintendo's console didn't have the power to run titles that would age well and seem relevant in a modern gaming market. That's proven to be wrong.

NPD: Behind the Numbers, June 2009 [Gamasutra]

(The following stats are pulled from the usage data shared by more than two million Wii users through the system's Nintendo Channel. For more information about how we calculate these total playtimes, check out this week's earlier Wii stats post)

Average Per-Gamer Playing Time For Nintendo's First-Party Wii Games (as of July 1)
(Release Dates in Parentheses)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (March 2008) — 68 hours, 51 minutes
Animal Crossing: City Folk (November 2008) — 54 hours, 16 minutes
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (November 2007) – 46 hours, 40 minutes
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (November 2006) — 46 hours, 9 minutes
Wii Sports (November 2006) — 35 hours, 47 minutes
Mario Kart Wii (April 2008) – 31 hours, 40 minutes
Super Mario Galaxy (November 2007) — 27 hours, 37 minutes
Super Paper Mario (April 2007) — 24 hours, 13 minutes
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (August 2007) 21 hours, 37 minutes
Mario Party 8 (May 2007) — 20 hours, 39 minutes
Pokemon Battle Revolution (June 2007) — 20 hours, 2 minutes
Wii Fit (May 2008) — 18 hours, 18 minutes
Mario Super Sluggers (August 2008) — 17 hours, 39 minutes
Excite Truck – (November 2006) 12 hours, 39 minutes
Battalion Wars 2 (October 2007) — 12 hours, 23 minutes
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (January 2007) — 11 hours, 39 minutes
Excitebots: Trick Racing (April 2009) – 10 hours 56 minutes
Wii Play (February 2007) — 10 hours, 7 minutes
New Play Control! Pikmin (March 2009) – 9 hours, 44 minutes
Endless Ocean (January 2008) — 9 hours, 41 minutes
Wii Music (October 2008) — 9 hours, 17 minutes
Wario Land: Shake It! (September 2008) — 8 hours, 47 minutes
Punch-Out!! (May 2009) – 7 hours, 55 minutes
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (June 2007) — 6 hours, 56 minutes
Mario Strikers Charged (July 2007) — 6 hours, 18 minutes
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (March 2009) – 6 hours, 14 minutes
Link's Crossbow Training (November 2007) - 4 hours, 55 minutes
Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast (October 2007) — 4 hours, 41 minutes
New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (May 2009) – No Data Listed

According to independent market research group GfK Retail and Technology Australia, the game has sold over 520,000 copies in its one year on sale. The only Wii game that has sold more is Wii Play at 569,000 copies. Mario Kart Wii has sold 328,000.

Wii Fit conquering one continent at a time.

Turns out the answer is still Wii Play, with almost all things considered. MTV Multiplayer got the NPD Group to cough up the multi-platform titles for games like Madden NFL 09 — which comes in 11 flavors — and World at War which was released for six platforms in 2008.

The total tally puts Madden, not Mario Kart Wii in second place, with 5.25 million copies sold.

NPD Clarifies: The Real List Of Top 5 Best-Selling Games Of 2008 Is… [MTV Multiplayer]

Wii Play's sales for the year beat out Grand Theft Auto IV with a combined total of 5.18 million copies sold on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But that doesn't take into account GTA IV's PC sales. Not trying to take anything away from Wii Play here or NPD's ranking methodology, but we're missing some important data to determine the sales king of 2008's retail mountain.

Especially since World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King doesn't appear on the list. It's limited to video game consoles only.

While Madden NFL 09 appears on the top ten list with 1.87 million copies sold, we don't have figures for all platforms. And Madden ships on many, many platforms. Same for Call of Duty World: at War. Yes, those disparate platforms provide a wider range of experiences, so the argument that each SKU should be stand on its own is sound.

Regardless of the confusion, here are NPD's best selling titles of 2008. That's the best-selling, console-specific best selling video games of 2008 that does not include Windows or Mac titles.

01. Wii Play (Wii) - 5,280,000
02. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 5,000,000
03. Wii Fit (Wii) - 4,530,000
04. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 4,170,000
05. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 3,290,000
06. Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - 2,750,000
07. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) - 2,310,000
08. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 1,890,000
09. Madden NFL 09 (XBox 360) - 1,870,000
10. Mario Kart DS (DS) - 1,650,000

The mini-game compilation and NPD top ten mainstay fought off the Xbox 360 version of the latest Call of Duty handily. Factoring in PlayStation 3 sales of the title, World at War sold a combined total of 1.86 million copies, making it the best multi-platform seller in December and bringing 2008 sales of the shooter to over 3.8 million.

The rest of the list is filled with Wii regulars and Xbox 360 blockbusters, including Wii Fit, Mario Kart and Gears of War 2. The full top ten is after this.

01. Wii Play (Wii) - 1,460,000
02. Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - 1,330,000
03. Wii Fit (Wii) - 999,000
04. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 979,000
05. Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii) - 850,000
06. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) - 745,000
07. Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) - 629,000
08. Mario Kart DS (DS) - 540,000
09. Call of Duty: World At War (PS3) - 533,000
10. Animal Crossing City Folk (Wii) - 497,000

U.S. consumers spent $2.75 billion on games during the month of December, bringing annual sales to nearly $11 billion. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, that's more than total industry revenues from 2005.

She adds: "While some have wondered if the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band is waning, both properties realized their best month yet in dollar sales, and combined represent 16% of total software dollar sales this month."

Thanks again to the NPD Group for providing us with monthly data.

In a note to investors, the EEDAR analyst also estimated U.S. Nintendo DS sales at 3 million last month, naming Wii Play as the best-selling game of December. Another 1.3 million sold, according to the analyst. It's the Wii numbers that are most staggering, besting the console's November performance, in which it moved 2.04 million units to Americans.

To put that in perspective, the Wii's sales in December 2007 were a far less impressive 1.35 million.

And if we really want to drive the point home, we'll point out that U.S. sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, from January to November of 2008, totaled 2.8 million and 3.3 million respectively. In other words, it was a pretty good month for Nintendo, if estimates are right.

NPD top ten mainstays like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit are expected to be best-sellers again, with Wii Music seeing a Christmas bump. Actual figures from the NPD Group are expected on Thursday. We expect excellent corporate responses.

Analyst: 3.2 million Wiis save holidays [GameSpot]

Despite generally negative review scores, it would seem that Wii owners were consumed by the prospect of more mini-games (and a second Wii remote) nearly on par with the thirst that Xbox 360 owners had for more Halo. An impressive feat for Nintendo, but more impressive for Microsoft, considering Wii Play had a seven month head start on the first-person shooter.

The top ten best selling games in the USA for last year are after the jump.

01. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) - 4,820,000
02. Wii Play with Remote (Wii) - 4,120,000
03. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - 3,040,000
04. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) - 2,720,000
05. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 2,520,000
06. Pokemon Diamond (DS) - 2,480,000
07. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 1,900,000
08. Guitar Hero II (PS2) - 1,890,000
09. Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360) - 1,870,000
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 1,820,000

In a way, Nintendo has succeeded off a form of supersizing. Don't sell the consumer two Wiimotes, just sell them more with one Wiimote. It's a small upsell that can clearly translate to big dollars.

Nintendo's secret best-seller: Wii Play [opposable thumbs]

Here are the top 8 games sold in the US for the month of June, with the rest of the top 20 following.

1. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 426,600
2. Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) - 293,200
3. Pokémon Diamond (DS) - 288,400
4. Pokémon Pearl (DS) - 214,700
5. Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360) - 197,400
6. Guitar Hero II w/ Guitar (PS2) - 197,350
7. Guitar Hero II w/Guitar (Xbox 360) - 177,600
8. Pokémon Battle Revolution (Wii) - 157,900

9. Resident Evil 4 (Wii)
10. The Darkness (Xbox 360)
11. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 (PS2)
12. Transformers: The Game (PS2)
13. Tenchu Z (Xbox 360)
14. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
15. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PS2)
16. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
17. Transformers: The Game (Xbox 360)
18. MLB '07: The Show (PS2)
19. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Wii)
20. Dirt (Xbox 360)

Gamers purchased a whopping $543 million worth of software in June, up 22% over June '06, resulting in year-to-date sales of $2.9 billion. Most impressive, you money spending freaks.

Virginia high school student Andrew sends us what could be best described as a Nintendo marketer's wet dream. He writes:

Last Friday, for my gym class's Physical Fitness Final Exam, my teacher brought in 3 Wiis and an Xbox, all hooked up to LCD projectors projected on the walls of the gym. For 2 hours we had tournaments on 2 of the Wiis in Wii Sports, Wii Play, Excite Truck, and Wario Ware while others played Twilight Princess on another and DDR on the xbox. We were also given the option of playing basketball but all 20 people in my class were more interested in Wii.

Look familiar? That's Tyler Bleszinski (in green), older brother of Gears of War designer CliffyB. Known primarily as a sports blogger, TylerB is also a big gamer. Over at Newsweek's Level Up, he's written an editorial on why he's on edge about the current Wii popularity. From the piece:

My problem is what this new crowd appears to be drawn to. Games like Wii Sports, Wii Play and Cooking Mama have become some of the biggest sellers, and that is what has me worried. If these are the type of games that become blockbusters, then you can count on other gaming companies who cater to the more hardcore gamer—aka me and the milions of others who've been driving this business—to promptly change direction. If we've learned anything about videogame companies, it's that they all are quick to follow each other if one is successful with something.

It's a provocative thought piece — complete with BeeGees-Nintendo Wii comparisons! Sure, it's not quite the bombshell of CliffyB saying that, but they're brothers. So somewhere, deep down, he must feel the same way. Or something. Brian Ashcraft

TylerB Worried [Level Up]

Rejected Wii Play Games [Loading.Ready.Run via Digg]

Adding a little bit of Nintendogs flair, Ultimate Duck Hunting will let you train your labrador hunting partner to be the ultimate bird carcass retreiving machine. You can even choose what color your lab is! Sorry, Miyamoto and company, you just got served.

You can check out four screens of the duck blasting Wii game in our gallery, all-the-while pondering how the hell Wii software looks graphically inferior to the GameCube. Prepare for pain! Michael McWhertor

Next-gen? Not quite yet. PlayStation 2 title God of War II pwned March by shifting 833,000 units — That's more than double the number two title, Ubisoft's G.R.A.W. for the Xbox 360. Following that were Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360, Wii Play for the Nintendo Wii and Motorstorm for the PLAYSTATION 3. Glad to see the focus back on actual games and not on pieces of hardware. Brian Ashcraft

GoW II Winner [Reuters]

It really shouldn't come as a surprise, as the lack of Wii hardware most likely had plenty to do with it, but Wii software is uncommonly scarce in this week's charts, with only Wii Play and Wii Sports cracking the top thirty.

Here are the top ten for the week of April 2nd to the 8th.

01. Naruto: Shippuuden Narutimett Accel (PS2) - 75,453 / NEW
02. Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable (PSP) - 58,751 / NEW
03. Yoshi's Island DS (DS) - 47,566 / 629,459
04. Pro Baseball Spirits 4 (PS2) - 40,891 / 82,052
05. Musou Orochi (PS2) - 36,168 / 515,803
06. More English Training (DS) - 34,933 / 84,645
07. Wii Sports (Wii) - 30,807 / 1,315,931
08. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 2 (PSP) - 29,944 / NEW
09. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ (PS2) - 29,638 / 202,850
10. Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village (DS) - 27,833 / 392,135

Now let's play a game of Spot the Lonely PLAYSTATION 3 Game!

11. Detective Conan: Tantei Ryoku Trainer (DS)
12. Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan DS (DS)
13. Pro Baseball Netsu Stadium 2007 (PS2)
14. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
15. Wii Play (Wii)
16. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP)
17. Rakushou! Pachislo Sengen 5: Rio Paradise (PS2)
18. Tamagotchi no Appare! Niji-Venture (DS)
19. Mario Kart DS (DS)
20. Digimon Story: Sunburst (DS)
21. More Brain Age (DS)
22. Animal Crossing Wild World (DS)
23. Pro Baseball Spirits 4 (PS3)
24. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (DS)
25. SimCity DS (DS)
26. Kageyama Method - Dennou Hanpuku: Tadashii Kanji Kaki to Rikun (DS)
27. Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Goku Legend (DS)
28. English Training (DS)
29. Common Knowledge Training (DS)
30. Super Robot Wars W (DS)

Did you find it kids? Tomorrow, hardware! Michael McWhertor

Media Create Sales Figures

From the piece:

But perhaps the biggest weakness of Miis at the moment is the lack of third-party support. According to EA producer Eric Chartrand, Nintendo hasn't released the necessary tools to put Miis into third-party games yet.

As Next-Gen's Blake Snow writes, it would indeed be wise to allow third-parties to integrate Miis into their games, and quickly. However, to the best of my knowledge, we've seen no non-Nintendo published software featuring Miis. Crude approximations? Oh yeah. Tons! Since Nintendo's latest console is just a few months old, we'll chalk it up to growing pains. And we'll ask Nintendo reps at GDC exacly when we can expect to see Miis outside of the company's own software. Michael McWhertor

Gamers Increase Control of Experience [Next-Gen]

I popped Wii Play into the Wii last night and got my game on.

While I still think that this game is one step past a product demo, there are bits of it that I could see myself playing over and over again. Specifically the Duck Hunt and Tank knock-offs.

For those of you unfamiliar, Wii Play walks you through a collection of mini-games in the guise of familiarizing you with how the Wii Remote works.

The disc includes Shooting Range, Find Mii, Pose Mii, Billiards, Table Tennis, Fishing, Charge, Laser Hockey and Tanks!

My quick take:

Shooting Range: Duck Hunt knock-off sans the dog. Fun and definitely repayable.
Find Mii: Find specific Miis out of a crowd. Fun, but more for the younger set.
Pose Mii: Rotate and pose your Mii to match falling pictures. Annoying and annoying.
Billiards: Play 9-ball, sorta. If it were a fully fleshed out game it could be great fun, but it isn't.
Table Tennis: Ping pong. You can only control the side to side movements of the paddle and no serving, which makes this a complete non-game.
Fishing: Drop the hook in and pull up when a fish grabs. Not really that fun.
Charge: Control a cow as you get it to knock over scarecrows. Boring.
Laser Hockey: Think pong or air hockey. The controls are a little hinky, but quite fun.
Tanks!: Control a tank with the remote and nunchuck from a top-down view. Great fun, the best game in the lot. I can see myself playing this for awhile.

Since Wii Play sells for $50 and comes with a remote, it means you're just paying $10 for the game. Probably worth the price of admission. Brian Crecente

Wii Play just arrived at the house. The game's got some fancy packaging and comes with a new remote (featuring a new, breakless strap).

I'll be playing with the game later today, right after I get online with my new build of Motorstorm and have my ass handed to me by the developers. Brian Crecente