by Joel

Wahoo! This means that Nintendo has a stockpile of money to pour – nay drench into the next Zelda and Mario adventure games! 🙂

With more than 3.6 million combined systems sold in November, Wiiâ„¢ and Nintendo DSâ„¢ set new hardware sales records, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. The Wii console sold more than 2 million in November, a new all-time record for a non-December month. The Nintendo DS system sold more than 1.56 million in November, which is now the second-highest total for a non-December month in history. The Wii console has sold 15.4 million in the United States since it launched in November 2006, and Nintendo DS has sold nearly 24.6 million in the United States since it launched in November 2004.

“Nintendo’s record-breaking sales demonstrate that consumers are looking for the best value not only among video games, but also among all entertainment options,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Shoppers are looking for gifts that can be enjoyed by the whole family, and Nintendo provides an incomparable range of experiences that gets the whole family involved.”

Four games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10 U.S. best-sellers for November, representing the diversity of people who play Nintendo games. These included Wii Playâ„¢ (for casual and lapsed players) at No. 3 with more than 796,000 sold, Wii Fitâ„¢ (for new gamers) at No. 4 with more than 697,000 sold, Mario Kartâ„¢ Wii (for both core and casual payers) at No. 5 with nearly 637,000 sold and Wii Musicâ„¢ (for everyone) placed at No. 9 with more than 297,000 sold, following its long-tail trend.

Looking at the industry as a whole, Nintendo products continue to fuel the engine of the video game industry. In November alone, Nintendo represented 198 percent of industry growth over 2007. Nintendo systems represented 66 percent of all hardware sales in November, including 59 percent of all console sales and 79 percent of all portable hardware sales.