UPDATE 2-U.S. video games sales fell 7 pct in September-NPD

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES Oct 16 U.S. video games sales fell 7 percent in September from a year earlier, when sales rose sharply with the release of "Halo 3," according to data from research firm NPD on Thursday.

While NPD analyst Anita Frazier called it the first "true" monthly decline for the industry since March 2006, she said U.S. video games sales remained quite strong despite the rocky economy and were poised to achieve $22 billion or more for the year, excluding PC games.

U.S. sales of video game hardware, software, and accessories totaled $1.27 billion in September with software sales falling 6 percent and hardware sales falling 9 percent, NPD said.

Frazier said it was important to keep in mind that September's 7 percent decline in video games was against a robust September 2007, when games rose 75 percent from the prior September.

"Last year, Halo 3 released in September 2007 and that game had a huge impact on hardware and software sales," she said.

NPD said its data also showed a decline in January 2008 from January 2007, but said that was not a "true decline" because it reflected a comparison between a four-week month in January 2008 versus a five-week month in January 2007.

When adjusted to a per week basis, January 2008 realized higher weekly sales and therefore not a true decline for the month.

The Xbox 360 outsold Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation 3 in September, selling 347,200 Xbox 360s versus 232,400 PS3 consoles in the United States. Nintendo Co Ltd's 7974.OS Wii outsold both systems combined, tallying 687,000 units sold during the month.

For the handhelds, Nintendo's DS sold 536,800 units versus 238,100 units Sony's PlayStation Portable.

The top selling game was LucasArts "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed," which debuted in September, selling 610,000 units for the Xbox 360, 325,000 units for the PS3 and 223,000 units for the Wii.

Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing, noted that despite recent price cuts on Xbox, Nintendo's Wii continues to enjoy significant sales with multiple people in households playing on Wiis.

When asked if the company will better stock the popular Wiis for the holidays, she said consumers would start to see this product growing into the market during October.

"Even in September, our internal numbers would suggest that Wii volume was about 37 percent higher than it was last year," she said.

(Reporting by Sue Zeidler)