NPD: Big debuts for Fallout, NBA 2K11

NBA 2K11 and Fallout: New Vegas were the biggest sellers in the US last month, according to data released by the NPD Group today.

2K Sports' basketball sim NBA 2K11 topped the charts for the month of October, with Bethesda's action RPG Fallout: New Vegas taking second spot.

Medal of Honor debuted at three, just ahead of Fable III and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

The full top ten panned out like this:

• 1. NBA 2K11 (Take-Two Interactive, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC)
• 2. Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks, Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
• 3. Medal of Honor (Electronic Arts, Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
• 4. Fable III (Microsoft, Xbox 360)
• 5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (LucasArts, Xbox 360, PS3, WII, PC, NDS)
• 6. Halo: Reach (Microsoft, Xbox 360)
• 7. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft, Wii)
• 8. FIFA Soccer 11 (Electronic Arts, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, NDS, PC)
• 9. Madden NFL 11 (Electronic Arts, Xbox 360, PS3, WII, PS2, PSP)
• 10. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 (THQ, PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, WII, PSP)

Although The NPD Group no longer releases sales data, it did reveal that the Xbox 360 version of Fallout: New Vegas sold 679,000 copies to become the month's highest-selling single-system SKU.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier also noted a strong showing for Rock Band 3. Harmonix's rhythm action masterpiece performed poorly in the UK but has done better business across the pond. It debuted at number 15 despite only being available for the last six days of the month.

"Based on solid reviews, this game has the potential to perform well over the holidays," Frazier predicted.

Generally, software sales were up six per cent year-on-year for the month, with online titles faring particularly well.

"Interestingly, unit sales of online playable console games were up 16 per cent while sales of those that are not online playable were down two per cent versus last October," said Frazier.

Things aren't so rosy on the hardware side though. Year-on-year sales revenue was down 26 per cent for the month.

Xbox 360 came out on top and was the only system to show a sales increase. It sold 325,000 units, bringing the system total to 3.5 million. That makes it the best-selling home console of the year so far in the US.