January video game sales hit $1.18 billion

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. sales of video game hardware and software were $1.18 billion in January, down 6 percent from a year earlier, with Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS) Wii console once again outselling its rivals.

The decline in overall sales was partly due to January 2008 covering a 4-week period, compared with a 5-week period for the same month a year ago.

During the month, Nintendo sold 274,000 Wiis, Sony Corp (6758.T) sold 269,000 PlayStation 3 machines and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) sold 230,000 Xbox 360 consoles, NPD said.

The top-selling game for a single console was the Xbox 360 version of Activision Inc's (ATVI.O) military shooting title "Call of Duty 4", which sold nearly 331,000 copies, NPD said.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis)