The figures are in for last year’s top selling games according to the NDP Group. These sales are total combined sales of a particular game across every platform that it may be available on. There are some interesting titles making their way to this list. Keep in mind that these are U.S. retail sales only. (i’ll share more on this below) I also highlighted the lone Xbox 360 exclusive in the list. Where’s Viva Piñata? You guys better get out and try that game. Shame on you calling yourselves Piñatatans! These are the 2006 Combined Top 10 Video Game Titles, Sorted by Units.

1    Madden NFL 07*    360,Wii,PS3,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    Electronic Arts

2    Cars    360,Wii,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    THQ

3    Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy    360,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    LucasArts

4    NCAA Football 07     360,PSP,XBX,PS2    Electronic Arts

5    New Super Mario Brothers     NDS    Nintendo

6    Need for Speed: Most Wanted     360,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    Electronic Arts

7    Gears of War**    360    Microsoft

8    Call Of Duty 3    360,Wii, PS3, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    Activision

9    Lego Star Wars    XBX, PS2,GCN,GBA    LucasArts

10    Fight Night Round 3    360,PS3,PSP,XBX,PS2    Electronic Arts

*Includes Hall of Fame Edition **Includes Collector’s Edition

I also wanted to share a quote from the NPD Group’s Senior Marketing Manager, David Riley. He shared this with me and I thought I’d pass it along as I saw something in the community today from a member asking about units sold versus shipped. Hopefully this helps a few of you get a better understanding of what the NPD Group does.

“Our data service for our clients helps them understand the U.S. market from the perspective of what is selling to consumers, and gives them an insight into consumer demographics and competitive benchmarking. The hardware manufacturers talk largely to what they have shipped, and often speak to those numbers on a multi-territory basis. The difference between what is shipped to multiple territories from what is sold through to consumers in the U.S. can be one or more of several things. Inventory in transit, inventory in the channel, inventory deployed outside the U.S. - all three of these can contribute to the difference. One thing that doesn’t contribute to the difference is a lack of coverage of any particular retail channel. While we collect actual sales data from a number of significant retail partners, that data is projected to cover the entire U.S. market at 100%, including the “mom & pop” stores. “