DS, Call of Duty: Black Ops top US Nov. chart - NPD

Industry research firm the NPD Group has reported $2.95 billion in US game sales for the month of November, a 9 percent increase in overall sales of non-PC hardware, software, and accessories. Including PC games, the total was $2.99 billion, an 8 percent uptick over the same period the year prior.

"November sales represent the best November on record in terms of new physical retail sales. It bests November 2008 by roughly $30 million, and that time frame was at the height of the music/dance genre sales," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

On the non-PC hardware side, sales were $1.08 billion, an increase of just 2 percent. And although NPD no longer releases its monthly hardware sales numbers, Microsoft and Nintendo were all too happy to oblige with their own figures. The Nintendo DS was once again the most popular platform in the land, selling 1.5 million units during the all-important month. In second place was the Xbox 360 with 1.37 million units, followed by the Wii with 1.2 million units. Sony had not released sales figures for the PlayStation 3 or PSP as of press time.

"The Xbox 360 was the best-selling console hardware system for the month, realizing an incredible 68 percent increase over last November," said Frazier.

The biggest increase in sales was in accessories, which includes both the Xbox 360's Kinect and the PlayStation 3s Move motion-sensing systems. Revenues in that category jumped 69 percent to $413.3 million dollars for the reporting period, which included Kinect's November 4 launch. During the 25 days following the peripheral's debut, some 2.5 million units were sold worldwide.

"The Xbox 360 Kinect was the best-selling accessory item in November," said Frazier. "With one month of sales, it's the top-selling accessory item in terms of dollar sales on a year-to-date basis."

Software sales rose just 4 percent to $1.46 billion, according to NPD. Given Call of Duty: Black Ops' $650 million debut week, it will likely surprise nobody that the game was the top software entry for November.

"Black Ops debuted as the best-selling game in its launch month (in history) with Black Ops selling 8.4 million units at retail in the US," said Frazier. "With only one month of sales, it has become the seventh best-selling game of all time, life-to-date." She went on to say that Black Ops accounted for 25 percent of all US game software units sold during November.

Rounding out NPD's top 10 was Ubisoft's stealth action game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood in second and another Ubi title, Just Dance 2, coming in third. In fourth was Madden NFL, followed by the Xbox 360-exclusive Fable III and the Wii-only Donkey Kong Country Returns. In seventh was Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, followed by the PS3-only Gran Turismo 5. NBA 2K11 was in ninth place, with Wii Fit Plus bringing up the rear in the 10th slot.

NOVEMBER 2010 US GAME SALES
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total: $2.99 billion (+8%)
Non-PC total: $2.95 billion (+9%)
Non-PC hardware: $1.08 billion (+2%)
Non-PC software: $1.46 billion (+4%)
Accessories: $413.3 million (+69%)

TOP 10 GAMES
Title (Platforms) - Publisher
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS) - Activision
2. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3) - Ubisoft
3. Just Dance 2 (Wii) - Ubisoft
4. Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, WII, PS2, PSP) - Electronic Arts
5. Fable III (360) - Microsoft
6. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) - Nintendo
7 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3, 360, Wii, PC) - Electronic Arts
8. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) - Sony Computer Entertainment America
9. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, WII, PC) - 2K Sports
10. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - Nintendo