US game sales continue to climb

Global Financial Crisis? Never heard of it, says games industry.

Computer games are still selling like hot cakes in a cold wind, despite - or perhaps because of - the lay-offs hitting workers in most industries.

According to the abacus users at NPD Group, the market for all things games grew in the US in January to $US1.3 billion, 13 per cent up on the same month in 2008. Yanks spent some $US677 million on games and $US445 million on consoles and the rest on bits and bobs, NPD reckons.

"The continued strength in hardware sales is changing that scenario a bit," said the company in a statement. "This will have a long-term positive impact on the industry as the user base expands," the firm predicts.

Nintendo's Wii was January's top console of the month, notching up 679,200 sales. This was more than twice the number of Xbox 360s sold (309,000) and leaves the PlayStation 3 trailing with 292,000 sales.

Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart were the top three games, flogging some 777,000, 415,000 and 292,000 respectively.

Nintendo ruled the handheld sector, too. Its DS notched up sales of 510,800 units during the month, pummelling Sony's PlayStation Portable into submission at 172,300 sales. Sony reckons its PSP has sold a total of 50 million units worldwide, as of January 2009.

Here are the top ten games in the US in January 2009, according to NPD:

• Wii Fit, Wii, 777,000 units sold
• Wii Play with remote, Wii, 415,000 units
• Mario Kart with wheel, Wii, 292,000 units
• Left 4 Dead, Xbox 360, 243,000 units
• Call of Duty: World at War, Xbox 360, 235,000 units
• Skate 2, Xbox 360, 199,000 units
• Guitar Hero World Tour, Wii, 155,000 units
• New Super Mario Bros, DS, 135,000 units
• Mario Kart, DS, 132,000 units
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest, PlayStation 3, 113,000 units.