Jumping ahead in the hardware space was the Nintendo DS, taking over after a four-month consecutive hold the Xbox 360 had in the United States. That doesn't mean things are shaky in Microsoft's camp as NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier says that "the Xbox 360 was the only platform to realize unit sales improvement over last October."

The Xbox 360 is also noted as generating "the most unit sales among the console platforms on a year-to-date basis as of this month." According to a separate release from Microsoft, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console for the month, pushing out 325K during the reported period.

Versus last month's sales numbers--which NPD will no longer releases to the public--the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii "were the two systems to increase unit sales on an average sales per week basis."

While the PlayStation 3 did not see an increase in hardware unit sales from September to October, the PS3 and PlayStation Move bundle "experienced a 15% increase over September 2010."

In software, Fallout: New Vegas on the Xbox 360 was the best-selling title for the month, pushing out "about 679K units, including the collector's edition." Microsoft revealed that in the month of October, Fable 3 sold 580K, while Halo: Reach sold 315K units.

After launching on October 26, Rock Band 3 managed to land the 15th spot for "best seling game at the title level--meaning combined, across all platforms--before the end of the reporting period.

Top Ten U.S. Console Titles (All Platforms) - reporting October 3 to October 30
1. NBA 2K11 (X360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC)
2. Fallout: New Vegas (X360, PS3, PC)
3. Medal of Honor (X360, PS3, PC)
4. Fable 3 (X360)
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (X360, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS)
6. Halo: Reach (X360)
7. Just Dance 2 (Wii)
8. FIFA Soccer 11 (PS3, X360, Wii, PS2, PSP, NDS, PC)
9. Madden NFL 11 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
10. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 201 (PS3, X360, PS2, Wii, PSP)

    Note: The NPD Group no longer lists software as individual platforms. Sales for all platforms will now be combined when listed in the "Top Ten" and no figures will be released to the public from the NPD Group. Listing counts new physical retail sales only***.)

Overall, the industry was down 4% versus the same period last year and down 8% year-to-date versus 2009.

Frazier also added, "Due to the success of the Move at retail, and the reported success of the Kinect early in its launch at retail, [Ed. Note: Reference Link] Specialty Controller items should contribute significantly to industry sales during the holiday."

***Yeah, we miss the complete numbers too.