Port Washington, N.Y. - Sales of video game hardware and software in the U.S. were up 37% in May from a year ago, to $1.12 billion, boosted by Take-Two Interactive's (NASD: TTWO) bestseller "Grand Theft Auto IV," which sold 871,300 units during the month, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Nintendo led hardware sales for the fourth consecutive month, moving 675,000 Wii consoles and 453,000 DS handhelds, compared with sales of 209,000 Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 consoles and 187,000 Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360s.

Despite strong sales of Grand Theft Auto IV -- which has racked up 4.2 million in sales to date -- this again does not appear to be translating into corresponding sales bumps for the consoles they are played on.

"The continued success of GTA 4 is not translating into big hardware sales for either the PS3 or the 360 but there may yet be a lift in June due to gift giving for Father's Day and graduations," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Game software sales as a whole were up 41% in May; other top sellers included Nintendo's "Wii Mario Kart" (787,400) and "Wii Fit" (686,700).

So far this year, the industry has tallied $6.6 billion in sales, and is on track to reach $21 billion to $23 billion for the full year.

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