With Love From The Nimble Pugilistic Dynamos!

The month of February, a time of love, a time of reverence, a time of celebration, a time of shivering confused groundhogs. The shortest month in the year (even with leap day assistance) seems to witness so much transformation in its perfect 4-week period. Beginning in the misery and gloom of winter (depending on your perspective of winter), it ends as the weather warms to the coming spring in winter’s official last full month. Always feeling like it was over before it started, February goes through timeless but soon-to-be-forgotten rituals of restlessness brought on by the sustained sheltering of cold season. Centered around a legend of love, sprinkled with a reflection of history, and for some, a reflection of faith, the usually 28-day long span of time makes up for getting the short end of the stick in the calendar hierarchy. What can we say? The month’s got a lot of heart.

But before the Gregorian calendar’s shorty ended it, true to form, left a big impression on the videogame scene while the page read “February”. The National Purchase Diary Group, Inc. recorded some wow-inducing numerals from all 3 of the gameworld’s preeminent players. The return of the series that set 1991-era arcades on (yoga) fire added expected prominence to the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. It was as if they were lifted by a Shoryūken! But even the amazing new adventures of Dragon and Punch (Ryu and Ken) STILL could not detour the dominance of the immortal Nintendo duo: Wii and DS. It looks like with this board they cannot be knocked off balance. What can you do? Just jump up and deep roundhouse, deep roundhouse again. Shake off the dizzies! Take heart and fall in love with these February NPD estimates for the U.S.A.!

Nintendo’s Wii shot ‘em through the heart with Cupid’s arrow selling an aorta-halting 753,000 beloved consoles in February of Valentine’s Day fame. In January of New Year’s fame, the revolutionary revelation sold 679,200 widgets of we showing a hard-to-believe-but-true increase. After over 2 years, it finally seems that Wii supply is matching up to Wii demand in the stores. Launch fever may at last be over. Now is the test that determines the future of the Wii. With these numbers and growing 3rd party developer support on the way, Wii’s going to ace this test. The trump cards have yet to be played.

Nintendo’s DS had a Carnival of a time on Mardi Gras selling 588,000 touch-masters in the month counting down the time of Lent. In the month coming after the end-year countdown, the doubt-destroying super-sensation sold 510,800 rectangular Pac-Men showing a noticeable increase. The half-a-million a month train continues to chug along down the track. DS has long silenced any critics who dismissed it as a gimmick building onto its legion of owners with a cavalcade of diverse games. What will happen to this monumental DS legacy once DSi joins the DS Lite on the store shelves? Will we see a case of what goes up must come…up? ‘Wait and see’ is the name of the game.

Microsoft’s XBox 360 collected numerous Washingtons and Lincolns as they sold 391,000 strains of XNA in the month of Presidents Day. In the month King Elvis was born, J Allard’s project sold 309,000 Xenon neons showing an impressive increase. No doubt about it. The game that most made this sales bump possible is the one and only Street Fighter IV. Capcom’s resurrection of their flagship fighting franchise has stirred up old nostalgia and broken new thumbs for many XBox 360 owners. How many 360 consoles will sell in the quest to beat the ridiculously hard Seth? And how many more will sell in March as Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar beat the Majini in Resident Evil 5? And Halo Wars?! March will have your answer.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 saw the snow thaw with 276,000 onyx originals sold in Black History Month. In the month Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born, the grand black piano sold 203,200 dark ‘n’ lovelies showing a notable increase. The PS3 was helped by 2 major games in February: Street Fighter IV and the exclusive Killzone 2. Hard to know which game pushed up hardware sales more. Could players have preferred the D-pad layout of the PS3 more for Street Fighter IV or was the long-held anticipation for E3 2005 star Killzone 2 finally unleashed for the graphical wonderland? Either way both boosted the system a little higher on the 2009 trajectory.

But there’s still a worrying trend lurking underneath this good news. This February’s total was 4,800 less than last February’s total of 280,800 (February 2007 totaled 127,000). This is the 4th month in a row where the PS3 failed to meet much less surpass the total from the same of the previous year. Can the PS3 version of Resident Evil 5 help change this pattern for March or will this decreasing trend go further regardless? Time tells all.

Sony’s PlayStation Portable saw its shadow on Groundhog Day selling 199,000 icy silvers in the month named for the Roman purification ritual of Februa. In the month named for Janus, the Roman God of Gateways, the UMD-3000 sold 172,300 portable portobellas showing a mild increase. Like with the PS3, the PSP is showing the same signs of weakness. In February 2006 (its 1st Feb. on U.S. market), the PSP sold 170,000. In February 2007, it sold 176,000. And in February 2008, it sold 243,100. But now in the same time period, it has actually fallen nearer to levels seen 2 years ago. Sony has finally gotten serious with putting substantial games on the system and hopefully this can help the portable match its Japanese performance which has become quite competitive. It had better because this is also 6 months in a row where the PSP fails to meet last year’s monthly totals. Unacceptable if you want to be a big player in this hard knocks business.

Sony’s PlayStation 2 sat cold and lonely receiving no Valentines selling 131,000 culminations to the PS9 in winter’s last full month. In the blizzards of January, Kutaragi’s Emotion sold 101,200 olden but golden consoles showing a mild increase. On March 4th, the PS2 officially becomes 9 years old being that this was its initial launch date starting in Japan. How long can this classic maintain 6-digit figures before console heaven calls it home? Enjoy it while it’s still here, that’s all I can say.

Put together, the U.S. videogame industry congealed $1.47 billion in total sales for February, a 10% heart swell up from last February. Of this nearly one and a half billion dollar figure, total hardware sales stepped up 11% to $532.7 million while total software sales skipped up 9% to $733.5 million. Simultaneously, total accessory sales candied 13% up to $207.1 million. The cardboard box says: this industry UP.

In the year-to-date (all 2 months of it), the industry card-stacked up 11% to $2.81 billion (with hardware portion up 14% to $978.4 million, software portion up 10% to $1.41 billion, and accessories portion up 13% to $418.6 million). NPD analyst Anita Frazier says that a 4% lower average retail price for games explains why dollar sales don’t quite keep pace with unit sales. Still looks like a lot of money to me! No federal bailouts necessary for the videogame industry (at least not overall). Oh yeah, all percentages refer to year-to-year comparisons between February 2009 and February 2008.

This month’s major story is about Street Fighter IV, the first mainline addition the legendary series in over 10 years. Sonic Boomingly, Capcom’s new fighting classic beats Soulcalibur IV’s opening month performance (July 2008) by well over 225,000 units comparing both platforms (Soulcalibur IV: on 360 = 218,900; on PS3 = 155,800). The difference between the 360 version and the PS3 version were much closer in sales than multi-platform titles of the past though the 360 one still has the edge. Combined together the 2 versions of Street Fighter IV would have taken the #1 spot but of course it doesn’t quite work that way. Wii Fit once again spoils the fight club with its unshakable control of the software charts. No love! Check out the mirror image in the sales numbers of the Wii Fit and the 360 version of SF IV. Yoga Flame!

Meanwhile, the PS3’s awaited-with-fevered-sweat Killzone 2 finds itself calzoned in the middle of a Nintendo sandwich surrounded by the everlasting Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii. Tiger Uppercut! Call of Duty: World at War for the 360 represents being followed by ‘forevergreen’ DS titles called Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. Hadōken!

And more Guitar Heroes are being produced from Wii Studios. Spinning Bird Kick! The more things change, the more they stay the same on these software charts. Heartbroken? Well, the following charts will never tell you ‘they love you not.’ Yatta!

NPD’s Top Hardware Sales in February

Nintendo Wii – 753,000
Nintendo DS – 588,000
Microsoft XBox 360 – 391,000
Sony PlayStation 3 – 276,000
Sony PlayStation Portable – 199,000
Sony PlayStation 2 – 131,000 

NPD’s Top Ten Software Sales in February

01. Wii Fit (Wii) – 644,000
02. Street Fighter IV (X360) – 446,000
03. Street Fighter IV (PS3) – 403,000
04. Wii Play (Wii) – 386,000
05. Killzone 2 (PS3) – 323,000
06. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 263,000
07. Call of Duty: World at War (X360) – 193,000
08. Mario Kart DS (DS) – 145,000
09. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) – 144,000
10. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) – 136,000