Sony's introduction of the $300 PlayStation 3 Slim landed it a top spot in September's console sales, ousting the Wii. Things have turned around for Nintendo, though, as the Wii reclaimed the number one sales position last month, according to research conducted by NPD.
During October, the Nintendo moved 506,900 Wii consoles (up from 462,800 in September), and 457,600 DS handhelds (down from 524,000). Sony trailed, shipping 320,600 PlayStation 3 units (down from 491,800), and Microsoft sold some 249,700 Xbox 360s (down from 352,600). Sony also managed to sell 174,600 PlayStation Portables (down from 190,400), and 117,800 PlayStation 2s (down from 146,000).
In all, year-to-date sales for January through October are down 10% over the same period in 2008, with only the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS seeing an increase. NPD notes that falling hardware sales accounts for a bulk of the game industry's 19% revenue decline from October 2008. Hardware-related revenue for the year is at $380.74 million, down 23% from $496.96 million last year.