Gamasutra and MTV Multiplayer have contributed some additional and intriguing data regarding the results of the December NPD's. While MTV have gotten their hands on the "real" top 5 of 2008 (all SKU's combined), Gamasutra have gotten some interesting numbers on a couple of titles in December.
Top 5 2008:
1. Wii Play 5.28 million
2. Madden NFL ‘09 5.25 million
3. Grand Theft Auto IV 5.22 million
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel 5.00 million
5. Call of Duty: World at War 4.63 million
This includes all versions and in the case of Madden that means an incredible 11 SKU's. NPD is considered to be extremely accurate with their numbers, but with the top 3 seperated by 60,000 or just about one per cent it really is a case of "too close to call". Who knows there may have been some sales disqualified in Florida or something...
Gamasutra provided numbers for Little Big Planet and Resistance 2 in December. Little Big Planet bounced back with 255,000 units (total: 611,000) while Resistance 2 managed 213,000 (total: 598,000). Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that Little Big Planet failed to make the top 20, putting all of those titles at higher numbers as we previously only had numbers for the top 10.
11. Wii Music (Wii) 487,000
12. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
13. Personal Trainer: Cooking (DS)
14. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)
15. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (DS)
16. Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)
17. Guitar Hero: World Tour (PS2)
18. Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360)
19. Call of Duty: World at War (Wii)
20. Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Wii)
All of the above subsequently beat Little Big Planet (255,000 units). Gamasutra also noted that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots have sold in excess of one million units in the US (1,076,000).
They also have numbers for too big franchises that were not as succesful this holiday season. Prince of Persia may have debuted a little late (in December), but Ubisoft are probably a little disappointed in the sales of 483,000 units (PS3 and Xbox 360 combined in December). But Ubisoft's disappointment should be mild compared to Eidos when they look at the numbers for Tomb Raider: Underworld. Lara Croft recorded a mere 243,000 in combined sales on PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 in both November and December.
Sources: MTV Multiplayer