Nintendo hardware once again dominates U.S. video game sales, with the Nintendo DS and Wii selling more than 2.96 million units combined in November, with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 settling for third and fourth, respectively.
It would appear that Modern Warfare 2's big software sales numbers on the Xbox 360 had a nice effect on Microsoft's showing last month. After being outsold by the cheaper, slimmer PlayStation 3 in September and October, the 360 outsold its high-def competition by more than 100,000 units.
The PSP and PlayStation 2 round out the bottom half of the list, with nearly a half-million units sold between the two platforms. November's 200,000-plus sales for the PS2 represent its 109th month on the NPD charts.
Here's how the NPD Group saw November's U.S. hardware contest shaking down.
  • Nintendo DS - 1,700,000
  • Wii - 1,260,000
  • Xbox 360 - 819,500
  • PlayStation 3 - 710,400
  • PSP - 293,900
  • PlayStation 2 - 203,100
Total hardware sales were $1.05 billion. That's a 13.4% drop from November of 2008, when all three consoles were considerably more expensive.
Here's NPD Group Anita Frazier with some silver lining.
"While there has been a lot of focus on Wii sales as compared to last year, the system was still the best-selling console system by a margin of 54%," Frazier notes. "At this same point in the PS2 lifecycle, the PS2 was down in unit sales by 23% over the previous year, but as history has shown, it continues to have a great deal of life left in it. So focusing on a comparison to Wii's stellar 2008 performance masks the reality of just how well this system is selling."
"The PS3 realized the greatest increase over last year's November sales and had its third best month in unit sales ever, coming in just under Decembers '07 and '08."


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