NPD: Nintendo DS, God Of War II Top March Charts

Author: by Staff

According to March 2007 NPD information, Nintendo's DS dominated overall U.S. hardware sales, with 508,000 sold for the month, the Wii the highest-selling next-gen console with 259,000 units - God Of War II dominates software charts. Overall, the 5-week March period surveyed by the NPD saw U.S. game sales of $574 million, up marginally from $501 million the year before - but overall sales surged to $1.1 billion from $818 million, thanks to next-gen console launches and the success of the DS. In the hardware charts for the month, Nintendo's impressive 508,000 tally for the DS was almost double that of any of its competitors, with a God Of War II-boosted PlayStation 2 hardware sell-through at around 280,000. The Wii's 259,000 total, still likely constrained by console supply, nonetheless topped the Xbox 360's 199,000 total, and the PlayStation 3's 130,000 sell-through saw Sony's next-gen hardware again in last place, despite anecdotal information that plenty of units are available to purchase. Elsewhere, the PlayStation Portable did creditably, racking up 180,000 in sales, and the Game Boy Advance's long-term success story continues, with a not inconsiderable 148,000 sold for the month in the U.S. Moving on to software, Sony's God Of War II was the overwhelming success story, moving a whopping 833,000 units for the month, one of the biggest debuts in quite some time. Second went to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for the Xbox 360, with 394,000 sales, and Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 sold 291,000, despite only being on sale for a fraction of the month surveyed by the NPD (which ended April 7th). Continuing down the all-formats top ten, Wii Play (with remote) was the highest-selling Wii game at 273,000 units, Motor Storm topped PlayStation 3 software sales with 199,000, and two Nintendo DS titles, Diddy Kong Racing (189,000) and Disney's Spectrobes (165,000) also impressed. The all-formats top ten was rounded off by Major League Baseball 2k7 for Xbox 360, MLB '07: The Show for PlayStation 3, and Def Jam Icon for Xbox 360, meaning that the Xbox 360 had four games in the top ten this month, compared to just one for the Wii and one for the PlayStation 3.