After a short delay, the NPD Group has finally released the software and hardware sales data for the month of September. With a 1% increase over last year’s sales, the month of September was certainly an impressive sales month for both Halo 3: ODST and the Playstation 3 console.

Despite the fact many feel Halo 3: ODST felt more like an expansion, Halo fans proved, once again, just how important the Halo series is to the Xbox 360.

Hit the jump for the full breakdown of September’s NPD numbers.

Total video game industry sales hit $1.28 billion, with software up 5% at $649.32 million, and hardware down 6% at $472.28 million.

With a total of 491,800 units sold, Playstation 3 has topped the console sales charts for the first time, while the Wii and Xbox 360 fall behind with 462,800 and 352,600 units sold, respectively. However, the Nintendo DS, once again, tops the overall hardware sales chart at 524,200 units sold. And as for the remaining Sony hardware, the PSP sold 190,400 units and the PS2, 146,000 units.

Despite a price drop on all three consoles, Playstation 3 has officially prevailed in the month of September. However, this is a feat that has been three years in the making.

As for software sales, it comes as no surprise that Halo 3: ODST has dominated the month of September.

A further breakdown of software sales can be found below.

Source: GameDaily