Nintendo’s Wii and DS lead hardware sales in the US during March, but Xbox 360 was the only platform to achieve a year-over-year sales increase, according to newly released NPD data. 

Nintendo’s platforms ran out comfortable winners, Microsoft’s console outsold PS3 by over 100,000 units, while PS3 placed ahead of PSP and the ageing PS2, as overall hardware sales fell 18 percent to $455.55 million during March. 

"If there was one area that surprised me this month, it was hardware sales,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “While it's not unusual for March hardware sales to be lower than February, I thought we'd see higher unit sales on most platforms.  The Xbox 360 was the only platform to achieve a year-over-year unit sales increase. 

"Wii and NDS hardware sales remained brisk, taking the top two spots for the month in hardware unit sales.   It's important to keep in mind that the Super Smash Bros. Brawl effect from last year impacted hardware sales as well, so while the year-over-year comps are down for the Wii, the sales are still impressive. 

"The PS2 price decrease occurred on April 1, so this month included only 4 days of sales as the new retail price. We would expect to see an increase in PS2 hardware sell-through in the April data." 

Here are the full sales figures:

 Nintendo Wii: 601,000 
 Nintendo DS: 563,000
Xbox 360: 330,000
PlayStation 3: 218,000
PlayStation Portable: 168,000
PlayStation 2: 112,000