Citing data from the NPD Group, analysts said Sony's GT4 from Sony was the best seller for the month, followed by Electronic Arts' NBA Street Vol. 3 and San Andreas from Take-Two Interactive Software.

Analysts also cited evidence that hardware shortages were starting to ease and retailers had a better supply of consoles and handhelds. Retailers suffered during the last year-end holiday shopping season because of shortages particularly of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The PS2 easily outsold both the Xbox and the GameCube in February and moved past 1 million units for the year to date.

More broadly, analysts expect industry sales to be flat to up 5 percent in 2005, as the industry transitions from the current generation of consoles to a new set of hardware over the next 24 months.