Port Washington, N.Y. - In a sign that the bullish video game industry is not immune to the economic downturn, U.S. sales were down 17% in March, to $1.43 billion, according to market research firm NPD Group. Game hardware sales were down 18%, while software sales fell 17% and accessories 15%. "While it might be tempting to jump to the conclusion that the sky is starting to fall on the video games industry given this months results, it's important to remember that two very big things are different this year than last," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"First, Easter fell in March last year whereas it fell in April this year, and last March included the release of Super Smash Bros.: Brawl, which went on to become the fourth best-selling game in 2008." Frazier was surprised, though, that hardware sales weren't higher, on any platform but the Xbox 360 -- which saw a 25% jump.

The Nintendo Wii once again led hardware with 601,000 unit sales; the DS took second with 563,000. Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 330,000 units last month, and the PlayStation 3 218,000. NPD noted that Sony's price cut on the PS3 would only have been felt on four days of sales in March.

The top-selling video game last month was Capcom's "Resident Evil 5," with over 1.5 million in sales across all platforms. Nintendo took four of the top ten spots, with "Pokemon Platinum Version" placing second (805,000); Microsoft's "Halo Wars," and titles from Sony and Take-Two Interactive rounded out the list.

"I think this shows that there doesn't have to be one winner of the console battle -- in fact software for all the platforms can enjoy retail success," Frazier added.

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