US Sales Charts by NPD Released

NPD Results: Splinter Cell, Pokemon Top April Charts - Super Street Fighter IV also manages to crack top ten, in its premiere month.

The NPD Group has released its videogame sales results for the month of April, confirming earlier reports that Splinter Cell: Conviction was the best-selling game at 486,100 units.

Nintendo's Pokemon SoulSilver and Pokemon HeartGold, in their second month on the chart, sold a combined 435,500 copies - 242,900 and 192,600, respectively.

The PlayStation version Super Street Fighter IV, which premiered alongside Conviction in April, came in tenth on the chart - though the NPD gave no specific numbers, we know that the 360 version -- which did not place in the top ten -- sold 108,000 copies, according to Microsoft.

The full top ten list follows. Note that sales numbers were not provided for games six through ten on the chart, apparently as part of a new policy by the NPD Group.

1. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction - 486,100
2. Pokemon SoulSilver Version - 242,900
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 200,300
4. Pokemon HeartGold Version - 192,600
5. God of War III - 180,300
6. Wii Sports Resort
7. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
8. Wii Fit Plus
9. Just Dance
10. Super Street Fighter IV (PlayStation 3 version)

Portable video games sales hurt game industry in April NDP Hardware Charts.

On the hardware side of things, video game industry revenue fell off by 26 percent in April, wiping out a positive month in March and adding more concerns about the health of the industry, according to the NPD Group.

The drop was the worst year-over-year decline since July 2009 and the fourth largest decline overall since NPD began tracking sales. The industry generated $766.2 million in April, setting it back 11 percent for the year compared to the same period last year.

Hardware sales showed the biggest decline, dropping 37 percent to $249.3 million. Software sales slipped by 22 percent to $398.5 million while game accessories mustered $118.4 million, a 9 percent decline.

The Nintendo DS moved 440,800 units in April, putting it on pace to break the all-time hardware sales record of the PlayStation 2 by this fall. Nintendo DS sales, however, were down 58 percent from last year and 37 percent from March this year. The PlayStation Portable sold just 65,500 units in April, half what it moved last year during the same month and also half of its total from March this year.

The decline in portable sales made up 61 percent of the overall monthly decline, suggesting the incredible Nintendo DS platform is losing steam. It might also reflect the growing clout of the iPhone platform, which welcomed the iPad to its ranks last month.

The iPhone and iPod Touch continue to draw in more casual gamers and with the iPad offering a bigger screen experience, this may be why Nintendo CEO Satru Iwata reportedly said that Apple is the company's future enemy.

Among consoles, the Wii sold 277,200 units while the Xbox 360 moved 185,400 consoles and the PlayStation 3 followed close behind with 180,800 units.

Here are the numbers.