August NPD: Darksiders 2 on top, but 3DS games take spots 2, 3

The retail sales slump continues for PC and console games, but it was all about Death in August as Darksiders 2 took the top spot in the latest NPD report. Not to be outdone, the 3DS held strong with the next two top games. New Super Mario Bros 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3D finished at second and third, respectively, mainly because of the new 3DS XL which launched in mid-August.

Superheroes were still hot from last month. Lego Batman 2, Batman: Arkham City and The Amazing Spider-Man moved down slightly, but still held stayed in the top 10. Sleeping Dogs and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron also, cracked the lower half of the list for the first time.

Just Dance 3 totally disappeared after being at #4 in July, while Assassin's Creed Revelations and NBA2K13 were other notables that disappeared from the top 10. Here's the complete breakdown:

Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms including PC)
• Darksiders 2 (260, PS3, PC)
• New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS)
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
• NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
• Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC)
• Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3)
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3)
• Batman Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, 3DS, NDS, Wii)

NPD Group's Anita Frazier was right on the mark last month with her prediction on the sales of the 3DS XL impacting this month;s report: "The 3DS XL launched on 8/19 and represented 44 percent of total 3DS unit sales, which is noteworthy given the fact that only seven days of 3DS sales are captured in this report."

Overall, total retail in-store sales were down 20 percent from August 2011.