NPD: Madden, Wii Games Lead August

A trio of versions of Madden NFL 09 filled the top three at US retailers across August, sales-tracking firm NPD Group revealed today. Also coming in strong were Nintendo's first-party Wii offerings, including Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii.

The top ten console games from August, according to NPD, were:

1. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon, Xbox 360) - 1,000,000

2. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon, PlayStation 3) - 643,000

3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon, PlayStation 2) - 424,500

4. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 394,900

5. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 328,700

6. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 200,200

7. Soul Calibur IV (Project Soul, Xbox 360) - 174,000

8. Too Human (Silicon Knights, Xbox 360) - 168,200

9. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon, Wii) - 115,800

10. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Vicarious Visions, Nintendo DS) - 111,200

Meanwhile, August hardware sales in the United States were as follows:

1. Nintendo DS - 518,300 units

2. Wii - 453,000 units

3. PSP - 253,000 units

4. Xbox 360 - 195,200 units

5. PlayStation 3 - 185,400 units

6. PlayStation 2 - 144,100 units

The video games industry proved itself worth a grand total of $1.08 billion in the month of August, marking a 9% increase over August of last year.

It is worth remembering that the recent Xbox 360 price cut took effect in September, leaving August sales of the console unaffected. This week's 600% sales spike will be recorded in September's results.