Wii continues video game dominance in December

The Wii continued to lead video game console sales in December, but the Xbox 360 wasn't far behind. Also, the PS3 showed significant improvement.

Data from NPD showed that overall software sales increased 36 percent over last year. Hardware sales gains were a little more modest at 17 percent, however that is still a significant gain considering consumers pulled back on holiday spending.

The Wii sold some 1.35 million units, ending the year with 6.3 million sold in the US. Second was the Xbox 360 with 1.26 million for the month and 4.6 million for the year.

Perhaps the most notable news from December data was the resurgence of Sony, which seems to indicate the console's price was the biggest inhibitor to sales. 797,600 units sold during December -- its best month ever -- and 2.6 million were sold during 2007.

The most popular games in December were Call of Duty 4, which sold 1.5 million units. Second was Super Mario Galaxy with 1.4 million units, and Guitar Hero III for the PlayStation 2, which sold 1.25 million copies was third.

Rounding out the top five was Wii Play, selling one million, and Madden NFL 08 selling 655,000.

NPD said the top selling game of 2007 was Halo 3, selling 4.8 million copies in the US, while Wii Play took the runner up spot with 4.1 million units.