Halo 3 Makes For Massive September Game Sales

NPD's US software and hardware sales figures for September have found their way into the wild, and the Halo effect looms large.

As expected Halo 3 not only sold its way straight to the top of the US sales 'ladder', it also boosted its mother platform, the Xbox 360 above Nintendo's dominating Wii. However, it still only managed 26,800 more sales than Nintendo's system.

You might think that this has something to do with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption boosting Wii sales - however, with 167,000 MP3:Cs sold, it looks more like steady Wii progress. That said, Wii Play sat in at Number 2 with 282,000 boxes sold.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on DS also saw Nintendo is second place come in at Number 3 selling 224,000 units.

What of Sony we hear some of you ask? Well, PlayStation 2 is still going well - possibly a reason to remove backwards compatibility from the new 40Gb unit? Or do we needlessly theorise conspiratorially (Friday is long word day). It sold 215,000, with its younger, shinier offspring selling 119,400. Heavenly Sword - the glorious, oriental battle gem (or tedious button mash, depending on your perspective) was the only PS3 title to makes the Top 10 - coming in at number 10, with 139,000 sold.

October begins the real run-up to what the Americans call 'the Holidays' because it's inclusive - and this also heralds PS3 price cuts. It's going to be fascinating to see whether the Halo effect dims, the Wii supply issues kick in, and the public reaction Stateside to PS3-lite.

Cutting to the chase, here is the hard data:

Software first:

September rank - September sales - Lifetime US sales

1. 360 – Halo 3 (all 3 versions) (Microsoft) - 3,300,000 (NEW)
2. Wii - Wii Play with remote (Nintendo) - 282,000 (2,230,000)
3. NDS - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo) - 224,000 (NEW)
4. PS2 - Madden NFL 08 (Electronic Arts) - 205,000 (848,600)
5. 360 - skate. (Electronic Arts) - 175,000 (NEW)
6. 360 - Madden NFL 08 (Electronic Arts) - 173,000 (1,069,600)
7. Wii - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo) - 167,000 (385,100)
8. 360 - Bioshock (2K Games) - 150,000 (640,900)
9. NDS - Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo) - 141,000 (Unstated)
10. PS3 - Heavenly Sword (Sony) - 139,000 (NEW)

And now hardware...

September Rank - September Sales - Lifetime US Sales

1. 360 - 527,800 (6,728,800)
2. Wii - 501,000 (4,519,400)
3. NDS - 495,800 (13,133,100)
4. PSP - 284,500 (8,599,900)
5. PS2 - 215,000 (39,265,800)
6. PS3 - 119,400 (1,865,100)
7. GBA - 75,000 (36,083,600+)