"Although we've been confident for many months now that the industry was poised to realize its best year ever in terms of revenue, the results in recent months make me even more bullish," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "I believe the U.S. video games industry will realize somewhere in the range of $17 to $18 billion for the year."

NPD's Top 10 best-selling games for Sept. 2007:

• Halo 3 (all versions) (Xbox 360) - 3.3 million
• Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii) - 282,000
• The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (NDS) - 224,000
• Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 205,000
• Skate (Xbox 360) - 175,000
• Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) - 173,000
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 167,000
• BioShock (Xbox 360) - 150,000
• Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (NDS) - 141,000
• Heavenly Sword (PS3) - 139,000

In its first two weeks, the three editions of “Halo 3” placed #1, 2 and 3 overall for console title sales - for a total of more than $225 million in sales in the U.S. with 3.3 million units. Average unit prices were $69 per game. The $130 “Halo 3: Legendary Edition” alone sold twice as many units as the top title for PS3 “Heavenly Sword” (SCE); the helmet is mightier than the sword.

• Proving that Xbox 360 is the new home for sports gamers, “Madden NFL ‘08” (EA) on Xbox 360 was again the leading next gen platform with 173,000 units sold, compared to the PS3 at 62,000 and Wii at 58,000. To date, “Madden NFL ‘08” has sold 1.1 million units on Xbox 360, 87 percent more than other next-gen platforms combined.
• Xbox 360 exclusive "BioShock" has sold 641,000 units through the end of September and remains to be on track to sell more than 1 million units. While “Halo 3” and “Madden NFL ‘08” have led the way as the first of a string of titles that are expected to sell more than 1 million units between now and the end of the year.
• Rounding out the top titles for Xbox 360, “Skate” (EA) came in at #6. The Xbox 360 version of the innovative titles outsold the PS3 version 6:1.

NPD's hardware sales for Sept. 2007:

• Xbox 360 - 528,000
• Wii - 501,000
• DS - 496,000
• PSP - 285,000
• PS2 - 215,000
• PS3 - 119,000