US videogame sales revived in March: NPD Group

US videogame sales in March broke a losing streak blamed in part on tough economic times, new figures released Thursday by NPD Group showed.

Revenue tallied 1.52 billion dollars, six percent higher than the 1.44 billion dollars brought in during the same month a year earlier, according to NPD.

Nintendo dominated the videogame hardware category, selling 557,500 of its Wii consoles and a record-setting 700,800 DS hand-held playing devices.

"Demand for Nintendo fun continues unabated," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing.

"We're glad so many people are able to get their hands on our systems as we prepare for the May launches of 'Super Mario Galaxy 2' for Wii and `Picross 3D' for our Nintendo DS systems."

The latest installment in a blockbuster "God of War" franchise tailored for exclusive play on Sony PlayStation consoles was the top-selling videogame, with 1.1 million units bought after it launched mid-March, NPD reported.

A "Pokemon Soulsilver" videogame crafted for Nintendo DS hand-held devices was the second best seller, with 1.02 million copies bought.

"Final Fantasy XIII" versions for PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles proved the third hottest title, selling 828,200 copies.

Prices for videogame hardware were lower than they were in March of last year, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Money taken in from sales of devices slipped from 457.1 million dollars in March of 2009 to to 440.5 million dollars in the same month this year.

While videogame software prices remained flat, sales jumped 10 percent to 875.3 million dollars in the year-over-year comparison by NPD.

US videogame sales during the first two months of the year had slipped from the previous year, defying optimism that the industry would rebound on a reviving economy.

The inauspicious start to 2010 came after the prior year finished with videogame sales in the three leading markets - Britain, Japan and the United States - down eight percent to 379.3 million units.