Market research firm, The NPD Group, is reporting the US market for video game hardware swelled to $445.4 million during January, a 17% increase from the same period last year.

Nintendo drove the U.S. video game market in January, with industry sales of gaming systems, software and accessories growing 13% to $1.33 billion. The Nintendo Wii was the month's best-selling system, with 679,200 units sold, followed by the handheld DS, also by Nintendo, with 510,800

The Xbox 360 from Microsoft sold 309,000 units during the month. The most expensive of the three consoles, the PlayStation 3, sold 203,200 units. January software sales climbed 10% to $676.6 million.

Also, according to new NPD figures, Sony's PlayStation 3 has seen a year-on-year decline in sales of 24.5% in January. Specifically, last year it sold 269,000 units, whilst this year it's 203,200. The PlayStation Portable suffered a very similar fate with a 25 percent drop, with sales of 101,200 from 264,200 the previous year.

Industry speculation is that the PS3 numbers may have a lot to do with its Blu-ray functionality. While the system has been important in kick-starting Blu-ray, it seems it’s no longer the case that consumers buy the PS3 just for movie watching.

Story filed 18.02.09