After six straight months of double-digit declines, U.S. video game sales saw an improvement in September, but the increase was much less than analysts had anticipated. Market researcher NPD Group on Monday reported a 1 percent increase in September sales of video game hardware, software and accessories compared with the same month last year. The total came to $1.28 billion, but yearly sales are still down 13 percent overall.

Hardware sales dropped 6 percent to $472.3 million. For the first time since its launch three years ago, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 sold more units than both the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360. Sony cut the price of the PlayStation 3 by $100 in August. Microsoft also slashed the Xbox 360′s price by $100 that month, and Nintendo cut the Wii’s price for the first time since its 2006 launch by $50 in late September. The average retail price of console hardware declined 8 percent from last September. The top-selling gaming platform was still the handheld Nintendo DS, for the sixth month in a row.

Microsoft’s Halo 3: ODST was by far the month’s best-selling game. It helped push software sales 5 percent higher, to $649.3 million, though this was still well below what many analysts expected. Both The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 were among the top 10 best-selling games, along with Wii Sports Resort and Madden NFL 10.

Source: MSNBC