September NPD: Madden, Gears, Dead Island are hits (Updated with Nintendo hardware numbers!)

It should come as no surprise that Madden NFL 12 beat everything else in NPD's software chart for the month of September, unless you're really not into sports games and forgot it came out. Second place is also pretty expected, with the massive rollout of Gears of War 3 massively rolling into people's homes. Third place, however, is a bit more interesting -- Dead Island, from semi-obscure publisher Deep Silver, outsold almost everything else based on the strength of that trailer and the word "zombies." Find the top ten after the break.

In hardware, Microsoft reported Xbox 360 takes the top hardware spot once again, touting 438,000 units sold in the month. Nintendo reports sales of 360,000 3DS units in the five week September reporting period, as well as 240,000 Wiis and 145,000 DS systems. Sony has not released official sales numbers for the PS3 or PSP.


In larger trends, total industry sales are down 6 percent year over year, with a mere $1.16 billion changing hands in September.

Top 10 best-selling games (US) for September 2011:

1. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
2. Gears of War 3 (360)
3. Dead Island (360, PS3, PC)
4. FIFA Soccer 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, 3DS)
5. NHL 12 (360, PS3)
6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (360, PS3, PC)
7. Resistance 3 (PS3)
8. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC)
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)
10. Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine (360, PS3, PC)