Sales of Video Games, Hardware Up Sharply

Data from NPD indicates that video games and hardware sales in the US were up 46 percent in August from the previous year.

Nintendo's Wii again took the top spot, selling some 404,000 units. This was down five percent from July. Sales of the PlayStation 3 also fell to 131,000 units, down some 18 percent.

Although it was easily eclipsed by the Wii, August's biggest winner was the Xbox 360. Sales skyrocketed 64 percent to 277,000 units, likely due to the price cut the company introduced across the entire line in the early part of the month.

While the PS3 may again be running into trouble in sales in the US, Sony still has the PS2 to help maintain itself -- the console sold over 200,000 units during August.

On the software side, the top selling game was Madden NFL 08, which sold 896,600 units. Versions for the PS2 came in number two with 643,600 units and number four with 336,200 for the PS3.

Third on the chart was the hit game BioShock for the Xbox 360, which sold 490,900 copies, and fifth went to Wii Play with 256,000 units. That game's sales are likely being boosted by the fact it includes a Wii controller with the purchase of the game.