The drop in console sales, didn't prevent the software to raise during the first half of 2004.

According to NPD, the marketing information provider, the whole video games sales in America dropped 2.5% during the first six months of 2004, compared to the same previous year period. Although both console hardware and portable software had an increased drop (17% and 12% respectively), software and accessories saw a raise in terms of sales.

While hardware sales were down, the situation could have been worse. Fortunately Microsoft's XBOX and Sony's Playstation 2 price drop, helped in the last two months of the first quarter. Furthermore, the top-10 console games for the first half of 2004 according to NPD were:

• 1. Fight Night 2004 (PS2) - EA
• 2. NBA Ballers (PS2) - Midway
• 3. MVP Baseball 2004 (PS2) - EA
• 4. Fight Night 2004 (Xbox) - EA
• 5. Pokemon Colosseum (GC) - Nintendo
• 6. Halo (Xbox) - Microsoft
• 7. Red Dead Revolver (PS2) - Take-Two
• 8. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (Xbox) - Ubisoft
• 9. Shrek 2 (PS2) - Activision
• 10. Spider-Man 2 (PS2) - Activision

Update

The Game Boy Advance sold the most units last month in America, however the GameCube sold the least.