Wii Fit, Sims 3 top console, PC games of '09...so far

Just under a week after it published a worse-than-expected US monthly game sales report, the NPD Group has released its top 10 best-seller charts for the year so far. The rankings were based on unit sales figures, which were themselves not made public--for the most part (see below).

The leading industry-research group found that, in the first six months of 2009, Nintendo dominated the domestic non-PC games market, occupying six of the top 10 slots. Wii Fit came in first, followed by Pokemon Platinum (DS), the Wii Remote pack-in Wii Play, and Wii Mario Kart, which is bundled with the Wii wheel. The last two positions on the top 10 were taken by some venerable DS holdovers--New Super Mario Bros., released in May 2006, and Mario Kart DS, first released in November 2005.

Sandwiched between the Mii yoginis and pocket-sized plumbers were three Xbox 360 games--Capcom's Resident Evil 5 (fifth), THQ's UFC 2009 Undisputed (sixth), and Activision's 2008 hit Call of Duty: World at War (seventh). The sole PlayStation 3 title to crack the top 20 was the long-awaited--and critically praised--first-party shooter Killzone 2, which fought its way into eighth place.

On the PC charts--much like in the real world--Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard fought it out for supremacy. From January to July, the former's Sims 3 was a double threat, with the regular edition being the top game and the $70 collector's edition coming in eighth. According to NPD, the game has sold over 820,000 units in June, the month it was released. Despite competing against its own sequel, The Sims 2: Double Deluxe was the six-month period's bronze-medal winner, with The Sims 2: Apartment Life expansion taking 10th place. EA also scored with Spore, the half-year's seventh-place PC title.

Activision Blizzard's showing wasn't too shabby, with the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion coming in second, and the $40 World of Warcraft: Battle Chest Bundle--which consists of the original game and the Burning Crusade expansion--coming in fourth. The original World of Warcraft, which was released over four and a half years ago, remained a best seller in sixth place. Rounding out the top 10 US PC games from January to June were fifth-place finisher Empire: Total War from Sega and ninth-place game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II from THQ.

TOP NON-PC US GAMES: JAN.-JUNE 2009
1) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Wii) - Nintendo
2) Pokemon Platinum (DS) - Nintendo
3) Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) - Nintendo
4) Wii Mario Kart w/ Wheel (Wii) - Nintendo
5) Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360) - Capcom
6) UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360) - THQ
7) Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - Activision Blizzard
8) Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3) - SCEA
9) Mario Kart DS (DS) - Nintendo
10) New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - Nintendo

TOP PC US GAMES: JAN.-JUNE 2009
1) The Sims 3 - Electronic Arts
2) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Activision Blizzard
3) The Sims 2: Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
4) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Activision Blizzard
5) Empire: Total War - Sega
6) World of Warcraft - Activision Blizzard
7) Spore - Electronic Arts
8) The Sims 3: Collector's Edition - Electronic Arts
9) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - THQ
10) The Sims 2: Apartment Life - Electronic Arts