2007: The Year of Nintendo

The final numbers for 2007 gaming sales are in, and surprise, surprise: the Wii clobbered its next-gen competition. But believe it or not, Nintendo's red-hot console wasn't the biggest winner last year. Any guesses?

Answer: the Nintendo DS, according to just-released numbers from the NPD Group (by way of Ars Technica). Turns out the ever-popular handheld sold a whopping 8.5 million units last year, beating out the Wii, which moved a still-impressive 6.29 million consoles.

Coming up next? The Xbox 360 with 6.29 consoles sold, buoyed in part by "Halo 3," the September blockbuster that happened to be the most popular game of 2007 (4.82 million discs sold). After that, we have the PlayStation 2, still chugging along with 3.97 million consoles sold last year, with Sony's PSP a hair behind with 3.82 million new devices getting in the hands of gamers.

Finally, at the bottom of the pile...the beleaguered PlayStation 3, which sold just 2.56 million consoles last year, and just shy of 800,000 units in December (making it the only gaming device on the list that didn't break the one-million mark during the critical holiday month). Also telling is that not one PS3 game made it onto the top-10 list for games in 2007 (the Xbox 360, the Wii, and the PS2 each had three, while "Pokemon Diamond" for the DS snagged the number six spot). PS3 sales have certainly spiked since the $399, 40GB version debuted in November, but based on these numbers, the troubled console has a long road to hoe. Maybe a few more top-notch exclusive titles (like the recent "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune") will do the trick.

Related:
Nintendo tops '07 sales numbers in industry's best year ever [Ars Technica]