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The gaming industry wasn't immune to the economic turmoil around the globe in 2009, but it appears that more people are playing games -- even if they aren't necessarily buying "core" games. USA Today has a year-end piece noting that 2008's record $21.3 billion in US sales isn't in the cards this year, with NPD data revealing that, as of November, consumers bought 12.2 million consoles, compared to 14.2 million the year prior. An optimist could argue that'll be made up for in software sales, but we'll need to wait until January for that data.

EEDAR's Jesse Divnich reiterated that "the big games are getting bigger," indicating that blockbuster, marketed games are siphoning more sales from everyone else. Then again, casual games like Farmville on Facebook had 65 million players. A complication here is that retail sales may be declining (which is tracked by organizations like NPD), but we don't really know what goes on in closed digital distribution systems. The actual industry sales figures may be debatable, but we'll take the rise of casual games as a sign of demographic diversity within the industry.

The NPD Group, which tracks sales of games in the US, handed over a list of the top 10 selling games this year through November to IndustryGamers. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 dominates the top spot with 4.2 million copies sold, while the PS3 version slips in at eighth place -- considering the data only goes up to November, a quick look at last month's NPDs could have told you as much.

The only other non-Nintendo titles at the top are Halo 3: ODST with 2 million and Madden NFL 10 on Xbox 360 with 1.5 million at the six and nine spots, respectively. Otherwise, Nintendo owns this list with first-party titles. If you're prepared to gaze upon the stunning sales Nintendo had in 2009, head on over to IndustryGamers for the data.

Yesterday's NPD announcement that New Super Mario Bros. Wii had sold 1.4 million copies in the November NPD period was impressive. But Nintendo topped it today by noting that, including sales after the NPD cutoff date, the game has reached a total of two million copies. It's not Modern Warfare 2 or anything, but it is a very strong start for a game that is likely to have a very long tail. Even just in November, it easily beat New Super Mario Bros.'s first month on DS (which, admittedly, was May and not November).

Nintendo also announced that the Wii has reached a US installed base of 23 million, and that the DS broke the November handheld sales record set by ... the DS.

After two months of trailing the PS3 in monthly NPD sales – thanks in no small part to the success of the PS3 Slim – the Xbox 360 has taken the lead once again. And Microsoft was quick to offer spokesman Aaron Greenberg for a chat, to explain why they're calling this November the "best-ever November in Xbox 360 history."

"In the month of November, consumers spent more money at retail on Xbox 360 than they did on the Wii or the PS3," Greenberg tells Joystiq. "If you look at total consumer spend across hardware, software, and accessories, it was $838 million. And if you look at software games, specifically third-party software games, we sold more games than the PS3 and the Wii combined." This emphasis on the entire "ecosystem" – including console sales, and software and accessories – is behind Microsoft's "best-ever" claim. In fact, though the Xbox 360 did sell over 100K more units than the PlayStation 3, console sales were down 2% year-over-year.

"We're essentially flat, year over year. It's down 2%, technically, if you just look at hardware sales," Greenberg admits. Whether the Wii was on top or whether Microsoft's November sales are the best in the console's history, all comes down to a question of focus. "What scoreboard are you using?" Greenberg asks.

-DS: 1.7M1.2M (+262%)
-Wii: 1.26M753K (+149%)
-360: 820K570K (+228%)
-PS3: 710K389K (+121%)
-PSP: 294K119K (+76%)
-PS2: 203K85K (72%)

Check out the software sales chart after the break.

It looks like Activision's hopes for Tony Hawk: Ride are falling even faster than the average Tony Hawk: Ride player. IndustryGamers reports that this month's NPD numbers place the game at 114,000 copies sold across three platforms. Not that Activision is even paying attention to its own failure right now, distracted by the ridiculous success of its own Modern Warfare 2. This is the second disappointing month in a row for a big-box Activision game.

While we don't have a per-platform breakdown of the disappointing sales, a forecast released before today's NPD results estimated that just 13,000 copies sold on Xbox 360. All of this just confirms what we intuitively knew: skateboards without wheels just don't work.

NPD, known in the video game world for its US sales charts, has released its first study of the Black Friday phenomenon. "The Anatomy of Black Friday 2009" is based on a survey of 1,700 shoppers about their Black Friday shopping activities. Why, exactly, did shoppers wake up at ridiculous times and stand out in the cold just for the privilege of being crammed into Best Buy or wherever like sardines? For 35% of Black Friday shoppers, it was a specific item. "I saw an item I wanted advertised on sale" was the top response, followed by "I was just curious to see what was out there."

The top reason for not subjecting themselves to the crowds and queues to buy anything on Black Friday? No, it wasn't "I'm not crazy," it was "no money."

NPD's latest update to its "Entertainment Trends in America" report finds that 14 percent of Americans have an "online gaming" subscription. We contacted NPD for a better explanation of what that exactly encompasses; a representative explained it includes "Xbox Live paid subscription, online gaming website paid subscription, MMOG (game specific) paid subscription and online video game rental service." For comparison, the 2008 figure was 13 percent.


Interestingly, 81 and 76 percent of households have cable and internet subscriptions, respectively. Meanwhile, both newspapers and magazines experienced a 2 percent drop in subscriptions. The company found that "monthly per-capita entertainment-content subscription" spending rose to $115, a 7 percent increase from last year. Some could argue that people doing that in this economy is surprising, then again, in this economy, home entertainment would seem the most cost-effective solution for having fun.

Gearbox has declared that Borderlands, the studio's original RPG-FPS ("RPS") hybrid, is the current leader in the annual undercard, the race to fastest-selling new IP of the year. While it might not make it onto a second-printing retail box, the accolade is still significant, as it implies that a new game has at least been noticed among the familiar franchises that dominate the monthly sales charts. What better hook to land a publisher when pitching a sequel?

Going by not entirely public NPD sales figures (in North America), Gearbox has determined that Borderlands had the most launch-week sales of any new IP in 2009. The only other title that could contest that would be Prototype, which enjoyed greater sales on the Xbox 360 platform (but just by 1,900 units) than did Borderlands when comparing the two games' respective launch months (419.9k vs. 418k units). However, Prototype, which released June 9, was available at retail for 11 more days during its launch month than was Borderlands (October 20). While we don't know total sales of either title during their launch months (both were released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC), it's reasonable to assume that Borderlands is the fast-selling new IP (during a launch week), if not the best-selling one in combined platform sales for a launch month in 2009.

So, congratulations! But watch out for Dragon Age: Origins -- we hear it's fast, too.

EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich recently told Industry Gamers that the low sales reported by NPD in October can be attributed mainly to casual gamers. Specifically, he placed the blame on "non-traditional and casual gamers who have failed to make follow-up purchases." Conversely, Divnich said that core game sales have been "quite healthy" throughout 2009. So, what can drive casual gamers back to the cash register? "it will take the introduction of some new style of gameplay or peripheral before we see a resurgence in the casual and non-traditional markets," said Divnich, noting that his company expects a new DS to arrive in 2010 (presumably a next generation model, not another redesign). In addition, Divnich believes that Microsoft's Project Natal could reinvigorate interest in motion-controlled gaming among both core and casual gamers.

Divnich also reiterated his belief that the Wii will remain on top for the rest of the year. He also thinks the PS3 could outsell the Xbox 360 over the holidays. He did note, however, that PS3 sales are "declining much faster post-price drop than the Xbx 360," suggesting that it's too early to claim any definite winners in the long run.

Both Brütal Legend and DJ Hero were conspicuously absent from October's NPD top ten. According to data given to GameSpot by NPD, DJ Hero, which was released at the end of the month, on October 27, managed 123,000 units in sales across four platforms, with the Xbox 360 version accounting for the highest number of sales (62,000 units) and, predictably, the PS2 version, the lowest (3,300 units).

Double Fine's rocking, semi-strategy game, Brütal Legend, which debuted on Rocktober 13, totaled 216,000 units in sales across two platforms during October: 150,000 on Xbox 360 (almost enough to launch it into the monthly top ten) and 66,000 on PS3. This total fails to hit analyst Jesse Divnich's prediction for the month. However, Divnich suggested that Brütal Legend would go on to be an attractive holiday item -- something that may also be true for the bulky box with the cool turntable thingy in it.

Update: Removed reference to Brütal Legend as an Activision-published title. We know better!

After the last two months of price drop-fueled sales surges, it's almost comforting to see all these red arrows. Hardware sales are down 17% from last month and down 10% from the year prior, with only the Wii maintaining any upward momentum as we head into the two busiest shopping months of the year. The PS3 lost the highest percentage, but that's hardly surprising following last month's meteoric 134% spike in sales.

On the software side of things, the exceptionally well-received PlayStation 3-exclusive Uncharted 2: Among Thieves took top honors, selling 537K units in just the second half of October. Of course, Sony told us earlier today that the title has broken the coveted million mark (worldwide?) with November sales factored in. The multiplatform Borderlands makes a similarly impressive showing, taking third on Xbox 360 with 418K units sold; however, when you factor in the 113K units sold of the not-top-ten PS3 version (data provided graciously by NPD), you find an impressive 531K in cumulative sales, just missing the top spot.

NBA 2K10 had a strong showing with 524K in cumulative sales, "outselling last year's NBA 2K9 by 60% in its launch month" reports the NPD, while last month's champ, Halo 3: ODST, dropped to sixth with 271K in sales. With just four days on shelves in October, Forza Motorsport 3 made a strong showing at #8 with 175K. Slightly less strong was Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days' ninth-place showing despite a full month on the shelf. And in last place is the worldwide phenomenon known as FIFA 10 (or, in North America, FIFA Soccer 10). While FIFA 10 may be the "fastest selling sports game ever" in Europe, selling 1.7m in its first week, over here we bought up just 156K copies in a little over a week.

-Wii: 507K44K (+10%)
-DS: 458K66K (-13%)
-PS3: 321K171K (-35%)
-360: 250K103K (-29%)
-PSP: 175K15K (-8%)
-PS2: 118K28K (-19%)

Check out the software sales chart after the break.

In a story about the scarier games (it's almost Halloween, don'tchaknow?), Reuters mentioned two things we thought would be good for this website we got going here. First, there's Capcom's Resident Evil 5, which Reuters reports has managed to sell 1.94 million copies in the US, according to NPD Group figures.

The second part of the Reuters story talks about EA and its spookier titles for 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 and Dead Space: Extraction. While there isn't anything new on the former, in a discussion of the latter, Reuters revealed that Dead Space 2 is apparently planned for a 2010 release, which would seem to confirm what we've heard about the game so far.

If you're like us -- and, we figure after all these years we've been secretly brainwashing you, you are -- then the recent console price cuts were met with your curiosity over how these discounts would affect the vast gaming sales landscape. Fortunately, Gamasutra has posted a chart (using NPD figures) that measures how the price cuts altered two factors: each console's average sale price during the month of September and its year-to-date sales (through September).

This first figure proves the most telling about how the market reacted to the slashed prices. For instance, the average price at which PS3s were purchased in September was a flat $300; meaning an overwhelming majority of buyers responded favorably to the discount. Though the price of the Wii didn't get cut until the last week of September, the console's average price dropped to $218 -- also indicative of a reactionary market surge. The average Xbox 360 purchased price, however, actually increased by a buck to $261. By Gamasutra's calculations, folks purchased three Elites ($300) for every Arcade model ($200) sold during the month.

The PS3 was the top-selling console in September, which is the first time it's ever managed a first-place sales finish. It's still in last place in the 2009 year-to-date totals, though, and Sony's system would need to outsell Xbox 360 by about 35,000 units every week until the end of the year to break even with its competitor. Passing up the Wii, however, would require an act of divine intervention -- Nintendo's console is currently sitting on YTD sales of 4 million, which is more than twice the total of PS3 sales.

With all the resounding critical praise that Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 has received thus far, it's good to see creative director Amy Hennig speaking up on the possibility of DLC for the game. "We're working on that now ... there will be DLC available before the end of the year," she told IndustryGamers today. Though she's not yet revealing very much on what exactly the content will entail, she did say it may include, "new maps, new characters, things like that ... some of it will be free of charge and some of it will be purchasable."

She wouldn't directly quote sales of the title thus far, but she did allow that the title is "exceeding expectations" and outselling the original game "by many, many times" -- a fact no doubt aided by the PlayStation 3's primary position among consoles on last month's NPDs. Hennig seems to embrace this head-on, referring to the confluence of events that lead to the current success of Uncharted 2 -- a hardware price drop, a handful of games being pushed back, and critical acclaim for the game -- as "serendipity." That doesn't mean the game ends in an expensive ice cream shop, right?