Video game companies tend to put their spin on the U.S. sales reports that the NPD Group releases each month. But with the year-end figures that were issued Thursday night,  showing a record year with $21.33 billion in sales, Nintendo didn’t have to strain to create its jaw-dropping news: The company sold 10.17 million Wii consoles in 2008, setting a record for any system in history. 

But the fact that its portable DS was just a tad behind, with sales of 9.95 million, made for a devastating 1-2 punch. In fact, the DS actually outsold the Wii in December, racking up sales of 3.04 million, according to NPD. That marks “the first time that any hardware system has sold in excess of 3 million units in any single month,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said.

Nintendo noted that in 2008 the Wii represented 55 percent of all sales among its console, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, while the DS grabbed 72 percent of all portable system sales.

The news for Nintendo only got better on the software side. The company also grabbed the top four spots among the year’s top-selling games. Wii Play, which actually came out in February 2007 (!), was the No. 1 title of 2008, with sales of 5.28 million, followed by Wii Mario Kart (5 million), Wii Fit (4.53 million) and Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl (4.17 million).  However, NPD ranked the games by system, which reduced the impact of cross-platform blockbusters such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Madden Football 09. GTAIV would have been a close second for the year on combined sales of its 360 and PS3 versions.

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