Nintendo's Wii is the champion console yet again

— -- The Nintendo Wii remains the hottest selling next generation video game system, outpacing competing consoles for the 10th straight month.

Nintendo sold 555,000 Wii systems in the month of July, upping its total installed base to more than 11.4 million, according to market tracking firm the NPD Group. Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 224,900 units in July bringing its total to 5.1 million, compared to the Microsoft Xbox 360's 204,800 (10.7 million).

The last time another system had the top spot? September 2007, when the Xbox 360 nudged out the Wii because of the release of Halo 3.

Consumers should have an easier time finding the Wii in stores, as Nintendo has increased production of the systems to 2.4 million monthly from 1.8 million.

"We are hearing of the ability to go into some retailers to find Wii and Wii Fit," says Denise Kaigler, Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs. "We are doing everything we can to keep up with demand."

Nintendo had three of the top 10 games of the month. Wii Fit came in at No. 2, the year-and-a-half-old Wii Play was No. 4 and Mario Kart hit No. 7.

The top seller was the Xbox 360 version of EA Sports' NCAA Football 09; the PS3 version came in at No. 5. The 3-D fighting game Soul Calibur IV took the No. 6 (Xbox 360) and No. 9 spots (PS3).

While next-gen systems get most of the attention, the Nintendo DS continued to be the overall leader, with 608,400 systems sold in July. Overall, Nintendo DS sales have now reached 21.4 million.

Total industry sales hit $1.19 billion, driving the 2008 total to $9.47 billion, 35% higher than last year when the industry eventually hit $17.9 billion. "The results reflect the continued strength of the industry and the appeal of a wide variety of content," says NPD's Anita Frazier.

Sales of games were 41% higher than in July 2007, while system sales were 17% higher. Since July is traditionally one of the industry's weakest months for hardware sales, the month's performance could suggest that consumer demand for systems will remain "robust for the balance of 2008," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams.