After a hiatus at #1 in September due to the release of Halo 3, in which Xbox 360 beat Wii by some 25,000 units, Nintendo is back on top in October 2007 by a substantial margin. Wii sold 520,000 for the month, followed by Nintendo DS at 460,000. Xbox 360 fell to 370,000. PSP, PS2 and PS3 rounded out the rankings for the month.

1. Wii - 519,000
2. Nintendo DS - 458,000
3. Xbox 360 - 366,000
4. PSP - 286,000
5. PS2 - 184,000
6. PS3 - 121,000

On the software side, it was all Guitar Hero. Activision noted in a press release that due to the release of Guitar Hero III they managed a market share of 28.7% for the month. In addition, it was the top selling game on each platform for which it was released (PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360). No third party game has ever ranked #1 on Wii.

1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) - 434,000
2. Guitar Hero III w/ guitar (Xbox 360) - 383,000
3. Guitar Hero III w/ guitar (Wii) - 286,000
4. Guitar Hero III w/ guitar (PS2) - 271,000
5. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) - 263,000
6. Wii Play (Wii) - 240,000
7. The Orange Box (Xbox 360) - 238,000
8. Guitar Hero III (PS2) - 232,000
9. FIFA Soccer 08 (PS2) - 130,000
10. Brain Age 2 (DS) - 117,000

Now that the Christmas "rush season" is upon us, it will be interesting to see what Santa's most popular choices will be.

I didn't want to buy Guitar Hero III because of the (here) upcoming Rock Band, but apparently everyone is just going to get both =)

I'm really looking forward to buying Guitar Hero III, since it's the only game of that kind which will be released for the PC.

It's been out for ages, even with support for all your favourite songs!

Haha, I know that Sciere, and I've played it a lot. The thing is that I don't have one of those fancy guitars!

Wait! Do you mean you can play rock guitar on PC with something else than your Keyboard? I suddenly feel most sacred thing in my life threatened.

Is this US or worldwide sales?

I'm glad to see Nintendo back on top. What worries me is Nintendo might get all arogant again and lose thier edge and number one position. But I think after the N64 that's not likely to happen.

I still believe that these rankings will change in the long run. But for a handheld to hold the second position and with quite a difference from the third...well I really didn't expect that.

That doesn't surprise me. Nintendo has always had a chokehold on the handheld market. And if the Wii does well, so does the DS.

I'm surprised the PSP is doing better than the PS2. Looks like that system I begged for two years ago will be on its way out soon.

Maybe I have underestimated the handhelds a little.

Just a side note, if you ever are wondering on system/game sales, I have found this site to be most helpful: Video Game Chartz

I wouldn't trust the accuracy of VGChartz. Since along with being a game credits nerd I'm a sales nerd, I used to hang out at the same message board as its founder. To begin with when he started his pre-VGChartz sites, he just fudged things a little. That is, he'd take data from multiple sales sources, shipment data, and then decide what the "real" number is, and use that on his site; even though he had no way of knowing his accuracy. However, more recently things have gotten worse.

He was just using slightly altered versions of the official NPD-released numbers for his US data, but obviously they had a problem with him doing this. So he decided to start giving weekly numbers for the US. However, these basically come from a combination of guessing and a few retail sources; when the real monthlies come out, VGChartz doesn't tend to be particularly close; my own guesses are usually better.