Nintendo pounds rivals in July game sales

Nintendo Co. Ltd. trounced the competition in July, taking eight of the top 10 positions in Canadian video game sales for the month, according to a report.

The top two games, Mario Kart and Fit, were for Nintendo's Wii home console while Guitar Hero: On Tour for the portable DS system took the third spot in sales, according to the electronics tracking firm NPD Group. Other Wii games in the top 10 were Play at fourth and Rock Band at seventh. The other DS games that placed in the top 10 were Brain Age 2 at fifth and New Super Mario Bros. at sixth.

Nintendo's rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp., had only one title each register in the top 10 sales for their respective consoles. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution for Microsoft's Xbox 360, from 2K Games, placed eighth, followed by Rock Band from Electronic Arts for Sony's PlayStation 3 at ninth.

Even more notable than Nintendo's dominance during the normally slow summer period was the fact that seven of the top 10 games included some sort of peripheral accessory. Mario Kart and Fit ship with a steering wheel and balance board, respectively, while the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games come with attachments or plastic instruments.

The industry in general is booming in Canada, with sales of hardware, software and accessories for the first seven months of the year totalling just under $920 million, according to NPD. That is up 54 per cent over the same period a year earlier.

Sony and Microsoft are expected to bounce back in sales once the fall release season begins.