By Raymond Padilla - Friday, February 13, 2009 2:38 PM
The January 2009 North American hardware numbers are in from NPD Group. Check 'em out!
* Nintendo Wii - 679,000
* Nintendo DS - 510,000
* Xbox 360 - 309,000
* PlayStation 3 - 203,000
* PlayStation Portable - 172,000
* PlayStation 2 - 101,000
As expected, Nintendo's Wii and DS systems led the list. The Xbox 360 continues to widen the gap with the PlayStation 3, though I was told from a source within Sony that it was pleased that the gap wasn't wider. The PlayStation portable did some decent numbers that helped bump its worldwide total to 50 million units sold. Considering that January isn't a big shopping month, the hardware numbers are strong. Nintendo is even touting its year-to-year performance with its two consoles.
Japan's Nintendo Co. drove the U.S. video game market in January, with industry sales of gaming systems, software and accessories growing 13 percent to $1.33 billion.
According to market researcher NPD Group, Americans bought $445.4 million worth of video game hardware during the month, a 17 percent increase From The same period a year earlier.
The Nintendo Wii was by far the month's best-selling system, with 679,200 units sold, followed by the handheld DS, also by Nintendo, with 510,800.
Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, said this is the 16th consecutive month the Wii has been the best-selling console in the U.S.
Fils-Aime said he expects the game industry to grow this year, but added this won't be "even across the board."
"Nintendo platforms will have accounted for a large majority of the year-over-year growth," he said in an interview.
The $250 console, launched in 2006, transformed the video game landscape by getting millions people who were not experienced gamers to pick up a controller.
The Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp. sold 309,000 units during the month. The priciest of the three consoles, the PlayStation 3 from Sony Corp., sold 203,200 units.
