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August NPD: the calm before the holiday storm photo

Last month was crazy for the industry. Game sales were up 41% over last year. But, as summer winds down, so does the videogames industry. We're in what you might call that pre-holiday season lull.

The individual NPD releases from each of the big three seem to say "we're still doing good" and not much else. Nintendo is still on top, with the DS and Wii finishing as number one and two for August. The PSP is doing great, coming in at number three. Sony says that this was related to their new Madden PSP pack. The PS3 falls just behind the Xbox 360 this month, with about 185,000 units trailing Microsoft's 195,000.  I look for that gap to increase next month with the new Xbox 360 price cuts.

As for games, last month was Madden month, so you know how that went. Over two million units of Madden NFL 09 were sold over various consoles, with the Xbox 360 selling a million copies itself. Too Human deserves a pat on the back for selling over 168,000 copies last month, ranking in the top ten alongside Wii Fit and Soul Calibur IV. And I'll be damned: Wii Play continues to sell, coming in at number 6 this month with more than 200,000 copies sold. Amazing.

August may have been calm, but I don't think September will be. The industry is ramping up for the holiday, ready to rape our wallets.








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Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools. Meet the rest of the team



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7 comments | showing # 1 to 7
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naia-the-gamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 12:43
naia-the-gamer
I'm completely baffled by Nintendo's ability to continue to sell Wii Play.
Dale North's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 12:46
Dale North
me too - its not even fun!
Swizzler121's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 13:16
Swizzler121
My friend bought Madden 09. I watched him play it. I knew Madden was hit with the stupid stick one too many times, but I had no idea how outdated their engine is. It completely lacks any type of physics, which is the first thing you would expect from a "realistic" football game. I really hope the NFL pulls their head out of their ass about this whole license thing.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 13:49
Samit Sarkar
@Swizzler121: Huh? They've implemented procedural generation for some of their tackles (it's used in combination with the old canned animation system), and I've never seen a Madden game that is more realistic physics-wise (big hits, momentum, broken tackles, etc.)
danger33's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 13:59
danger33
Madden seems too easy to break tackles. I'll still buy it, though I miss 2k5
parrothead's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 15:22
parrothead
I can't believe that 200,000 more people bought Wii Play. I got it when it first came out to get the controller, but the game sucks.
eternalplayer2345's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/12/2008 17:17
eternalplayer2345
I don't think anyone actually wanted wii play, they just got it with their new wiimote. Putting wii play on the npd is like putting like wii sports as a million seller.
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