After months of decline, the gaming industry enjoyed a sizable boost in sales this November, realizing an 8 percent increase in sales over the previous year. The main driving forces? US retail tracking firm NPD points to Xbox 360 and Activision’s software juggernaut Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Moving 1.37 million units, Xbox 360 sales rose by an incredible 68 percent over last November, much of which is attributed to the launch of Kinect. Microsoft’s hands-free motion camera dominated the accessory channel, shifting 1 million in just 10 days.

The PS3 suffered a 25 percent drop, shifting a pale 530,000 units in comparison.

Meanwhile, on the software side of the spectrum, Black Ops accounted for a whopping 25 percent of all sales. Throughout November, it shifted a staggering 8.4 million units, setting a new record for launch sales. Furthermore, NPD reports that it is the 7th best-selling game of all time, life-to-date.

“November sales represent the best November on record in terms of new physical retail sales. It bests November 2008 by roughly $30 million, and that time frame was at the height of the music/dance genre sales,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“All categories were up over last year with the exception of portable hardware and software.”

“The 360 platform accounted for over 40% of total industry sales driven by the successful launch of Microsoft’s Kinect. Xbox 360 accessories accounted for 60% of that categories’ dollar sales this month.”

We’ll update with exact hardware figures as they become available.

Hardware Sales

Nintendo DS: 1.5 million
Xbox 360: 1.37 million
Wii: 1.27 million
PS3: 530k

Top 10 – Software

**Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS) 1 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
**Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3) 2 UBISOFT
Just Dance 2 (Wii) 3 UBISOFT
Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP) 4 ELECTRONIC ARTS
**Fable III (360) 5 MICROSOFT
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) 6 NINTENDO
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3, 360, Wii, PC) 7 ELECTRONIC ARTS
**Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) 8 SONY
NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP,PC) 9 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE
**Wii Fit Plus (Wii) 10 NINTENDO

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

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