Halo 3 Goes Triple-Platinum, Leads NPDs

But was the game's success enough to push the Xbox 360 above the Wii for once?

Between the Wii and the DS, Nintendo has pretty much hogged the top of the hardware sales chart in the US over the last few months, but in September, at least, Microsoft found ample reason to cheer.

The release of Halo 3, dubbed by Microsoft as the biggest day in entertainment history, proved to be nearly as big an event as the hype would have you believe. The game sold more than 3.3 million copies between its launch on 25 September and the end of researcher NPD's five-week counting period, according to Wired.

This enthusiasm for Halo spilled over to hardware too, giving the Xbox 360 the top spot on the hardware chart thanks to more than half a million sales during the month. While the numbers do suggest that few people actually bought the console just to play Halo, the extra attention was enough to give the console a slight edge over the Wii.

Not that Nintendo will be disappointed. The company's biggest game of the year, Super Mario Galaxy, is still a few weeks away. In the meantime, the new Legend of Zelda game for DS helped give Nintendo four exclusive games in the Top 10.

Below are the latest software and hardware rankings for the US:

Software

1. Halo 3 (360) - 3,300,000
2. Wii Play with remote (Wii) - 282,000
3. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) - 224,000
4. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 205,000
5. Skate (360) - 175,000
6. Madden NFL 08 (360) - 173,000
7. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 167,000
8. BioShock (360) - 150,000
9. Brain Age 2: More Brain Training in Minutes a Day (DS) - 141,000
10. Heavenly Sword (PS3) - 139,000

Hardware

1. Xbox 360 - 527,800
2. Wii - 501,000
3. DS - 495,800
4. PSP - 284,500
5. PlayStation 2 - 215,000
6. PlayStation 3 - 119,400
7. Game Boy Advance - 75,000

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo