Current gen showing age as Xbox 360 dips below 200k units purchased in August NPD

Either summer time gaming doldrums really struck the gaming industry in August or the current generation of game systems is hitting a wall with the xbox 360 controller mods managing to promote only 193,000 units for that month.

Game sales for home consoles just weren't very secure either despite being a month with numerous new games like Darksiders II, Sleeping Dogs and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The 3DS was strong though with two games - New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3D inside top three games sold for your month. So, from a technical perspective, New Super Mario Bros. 2 could be the top-selling game overall when counting games on individual systems.

The most significant oddity in software sales is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 dropping completely out of the top while Call of Duty: Black Ops hangs in at number 9.

Total retail software sales dropped 11 percent to $252.8 million while hardware sales plummeted 39 percent to $150.6 000 0000 to the month of August. Even accessories were down seven percent to $127.3 million as total industry sales fell 20 percent to $515.6 million.

"The actual hardware systems are showing what their ages are, therefore it is evident who's could well be great to obtain new systems breathe life into traditional retail industry sales," said NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier. "I am anxious to learn more about the Wii U launch later this month. Sufficient reason for any luck we'll hear news about other systems on the horizon."

"Within software, the high-definition platforms posted a slight 1 percent decline in dollar sales as compared to last August, pointing to your stabilization in this portion of the retail market for games content," she said.

"One factor contributing to the softness we have now welcomed in retail content sales until now in 2012 has been the decline in the amount of the latest titles. This, however, was not the case in August because there have been more new titles when compared to last year; titles with sales that were significantly a lot better than last year's launches. So, what we're seeing impact August results would be the domino effect with the light release schedule from earlier around. That deficit of new releases has brought a significant influence on subsequent month's sales," she continued.

Interestingly, NPD estimates that consumer paying for digital games via micro-transactions, add-ons, subscriptions, mobile games, etc results in approximately $391 million for August.

Darksiders II sits atop the 10 list with 247,000 units sold between NPD's reporting period of July 29 through August 25. Meanwhile, New Super Mario Bros. 2 does almost too about the same platform with 240,000 units solds. Kingdom Hearts 3D is appropriate behind at 180,000 units. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is 7th at 105,000 units sold that ought to offer you a thought how games 4 through 6 fared.

Madden NFL 13 fell outside this reporting period but we expect it to be the most notable game when looking at next month's NPD sales results the way it reportedly sold 1.sixty five million units to use first week.

August 2012 Top ten Games

Darksiders II (PS3, xbox 360 controller cases, PC)

New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)

NCAA Football 13 (PS3, Xbox 360 elite)

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (PS3, Xbox 360 console, Wii, 3DS, PS Vita, PC)

Sleeping Dogs (PS3, Xbox 360 system)

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (PS3, Xbox 360)

Batman: Arkham City (PS3, green xbox 360 controller, PC)

Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, DS)

The astonishing Spider-Man (PS3, Xbox 360 console, Wii, 3DS, DS)

Microsoft may be the only company reporting the sales numbers of its console for August at 193,000 Xbox 360s sold. Nintendo received a lift on the launch in the Nintendo 3DS XL which represented 44 percent from the total 3DS units sales with only 1 week of availability.