Wii Regains Top Spot

Wii regained the top spot among video game consoles sold in October, while games from Activision dominated U.S. retail software sales during the month, according to data from the market researcher NPD group.

Total video game sales marginally increased 73 percent to hit $1.1 billion, up from $643.3 million last October. At $469.7 million, hardware sales more than doubled from last year's $207.1 million.

The September launch of Microsoft's "Halo 3" re-energized sales of the Xbox 360, making it that month's best-selling console and ousting the Wii from the first place. However, October sales show the Wii sold 519,000 units, followed by the Nintendo DS with 458,000 and the Xbox 360 with 366,000.

At 26 percent, the Wii's market share was the highest it has achieved since its launch last November, noted Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel.

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It's been just about a year since the launch of the Wii and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, which, along with the Xbox 360 make up the latest generation of video game consoles. However, with just 121,000 units sold in October, Sony recently cut the competitive price of the PS3 and launched a cheaper model, which noticeably boosted sales of the console in the past few weeks.

Year-to-date video game sales totaled $10.5 billion at the successful end of October, up 49 percent from the same time a year earlier.

The next few weeks, however, will be the most important time of the year for video game companies, as they make much of their money during the holiday season.

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