NPD: Gamers Love Football and Fitness

[sukishan]

The NPD numbers for August 2008 have come in, and, according to the reports, Wii and DS games managed to hold onto a few spots amid the many Maddens. Four Wii titles are among the 10 best-selling games of the month: Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Wii Play, and Madden NFL 09 All-Play.

It was definitely the month for Madden, with all current gen console versions holding a spot in its first month of release. The Wii version, while performing well, is in a distant fourth place among Madden titles, selling fewer than one third the units of the next lowest version for the Playstation 2.

Even with its "impossible to find" status, Wii Fit managed to sell more than 350,000 units.

On the handheld front, even with its relatively lackluster reviews (except for our own with a 9 out of 10), Guitar Hero: On Tour -- released in late July -- managed to be the only Nintendo DS game in the overall top 10 for August. The best selling third-party DS game sold so well it kept Mario Super Sluggers out of the overall list, knocking Nintendo's baseball game, released late in the month, down to the Number 11 slot.

Mario has a commanding presence in the top 20 spots with the aformentioned Mario Super Sluggers, as well as New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (both Wii and DS), Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros Brawl all featured.