April NPD: Sam Fisher's grim month

Apparently everybody was paying taxes last month instead of buying games, because despite analysts' expectations, sales for April were way down. As you can see below, sales dropped out on every single console that NPD tracked during April, with the Wii taking the biggest hit, down 50 percent from March. Hardware sales overall fell by 37 percent.

Software sales didn't do any better -- Splinter Cell Conviction was a bright spot and Super Street Fighter IV just barely made the list (which you can find after the break), but otherwise it was all leftovers from March and previous months. NPD reports that last month's 11 percent industry drop-off was the "worst year-over-year decline...since July '09, and the fourth largest year-over-year percentage decline ever." The industry got rained on -- here's hoping April showers bring some May flowers.

-DS: 441K260K (-37%)
-Wii: 277K 281K (-50%)
-360: 185K 153K (-45%)
-PS3: 181K 133K (-42%)
-PSP: 66K 54K (-44%)
-PS2 sales are no longer being tracked by NPD -- goodbye, old friend.

See the top 10 games after the break. (Note: Sales figures for the games ranked six through ten were withheld by NPD for unstated reasons.)

1. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - Xbox 360 - Ubisoft - 486K
2. Pokemon SoulSilver - DS - Nintendo - 243K
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Wii - Nintendo - 200K
4. Pokemon HeartGold - DS - Nintendo - 193K
5. God of War III - PS3 - Sony - 180K
6. Wii Sports Resort w/ Wii Motion Plus - Wii - Nintendo
7. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - Xbox 360 - EA
8. Wii Fit Plus - Wii - Nintendo
9. Just Dance - Wii - Ubisoft
10. Super Street Fighter IV - PS3 - Capcom