Xbox leads the pack as gaming industry enjoys an April boost

May 13, 2011 at 10:06 a.m. EDT

Citing numbers from the NPD group, an industry tracker, the report said that U.S. sales of consoles, peripherals and software rose 20 percent over last year’s figures to $961.2 million. The figures do not count digital game sales.

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Microsoft said that the Xbox was the top-selling game console this past month, with sales are up 60 percent over last year. The console sold 297,000 units in April.

In its April NPD report, Sony said that PlayStation 3 hardware sales are up 13 percent over last year, though it didn’t give unit sales. The company also said PS3 software sales are up 40 percent.

The e-mailed statement also said that Sony hopes to restore the services taken out by a criminal attack in April "as soon as we can."