NPD: Nintendo Hardware Still Top

Nintendo's systems outsold all competitors in March, but key third-party titles failed to make the cut.

It's that time of the month again. Yep -- NPD's anticipated top-selling videogame hardware and software recap, this time for March. As is usually the case, Nintendo's own two systems ranked number-one and two, Wii with 610,000 units sold and DS with 563,000 respectively. Microsoft's console managed the third spot with 330,000 more units moved. PlayStation 3 came in fourth with 218,000. PSP 168,000. And PS2 -- nearly a decade after its release -- sold to another 112,000 people.

While Nintendo held the top positions in hardware, the same could not be said of its software showing for the month. Capcom's Resident Evil 5 was the big winner with 938,000 units sold on Xbox 360, easily earning it the number-one spot. Nintendo made a killing with the DS Pokemon Platinum, managing to suck in 805,000 new gamers. Halo Wars debuted strongly for the third spot with 639,000 units. Resident Evil 5 for PS3 took fourth with 585,000. And old trusty, Wii Fit, filled out the top five with another 541,000 in sales. MLB '09: The Show proved successful with 305,000 sold. Killzone 2 added 296,000 to its roster for seventh place. Wii Play manaed another 281,000 for eigth. Mario Kart Wii another 278,000. And Major League Baseball 2K9 for Xbox 360 rounded out the top 10 with 205,000 sold.

Perhaps the biggest news is what didn't make the top 10 list. Namely, SEGA's MadWorld, which released March 11 and sold less than 205,000 copies. The company gambled that Wii owners would be willing to snap up a well-produced, mature-rated title, and thus far the results do not look promising. We've got queries into NPD for specifics, so stay tuned.