New NPD Group figures show a record-breaking November for the DS and Wii in the US. Meanwhile 360 sales have been better than buoyant and the PS3’s rather less so…

First things first, then, and with Xmas around the corner and all the family-based entertainment shenanigans entailed therein it’s not exactly surprising to see the Wii totally owning the Stateside hardware market. 2.04 million units were shifted in November alone, which is a record-breaking sale, according to Nintendo, accounting for 59% of all home consoles sold during the month.

In terms of sector domination, though, the DS fares even better - the 1.56 million units it sold represent a staggering 79% of the handheld market. All told Nintendo reckons that its formats make up two-thirds of the entire hardware market. Impressive!

And so to the competition, which is pretty much nowhere in comparison. Microsoft will be pretty chuffed with the performance of the 360, though. Sales have been rocketing since the price drops, with 836,000 sold in November and Gears of War 2 topping the US software charts.

In stark contrast the Playstation 3 sold a relatively piffling 378,000 new units and was outpaced by the PSP at 421,000. That’s not a lot to shout about, you might think. However Sony has been quick to accentuate the positive, claiming that the next-gen console has achieved an almost 100% growth on the previous month, while software sales have increased by 150% year to date. That’s thanks, in no small part, to LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 and Call of Duty: World at War - all of which helped account for over 3.5 million software units sold in November.

Not too scruffy, eh? But the PS3 will have to try a lot harder if it is to break the Wii/360 duopoly that is currently clogging the US November software chart. Check it, and note those sales figures:

1 Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) - 1.56 million
2 Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - 1.41 million
3 Wii Play (Wii) - 796,000
4 Wii Fit (Wii) - 697,000
5 Mario Kart (Wii) - Wii 637,000
6 Call of Duty: World at War (PS3) - 597,000
7 Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) - 475,000
8 Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) - 410,000
9 Resistance 2 (PS) - 385,000
10 Wii Music (Wii) - 297,000