Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. sales of Nintendo Co.'s Wii video-game console rose 37 percent in September as the industry overall, including hardware and games, shrank for the first time in more than two years.

Consumers purchased 687,000 Wii players, Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group Inc. said today in an e-mailed statement, an increase from 501,000 a year earlier. Total industry sales fell 7 percent to $1.27 billion, NPD said.

The industry's overall decline reflects the absence of a title that compared with ``Halo 3,'' released by Microsoft Corp. in September 2007. Consumers bought 3.3 million copies of the game, helping to lift industry sales 75 percent, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in an e-mailed statement.

``Overall, the health of the video games industry remains quite strong despite the rocky economic conditions,'' Frazier said.

Last month's top-selling game, ``Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'' for the Xbox 360, accounted for 610,000 units, NPD said.

Total sales for the industry, including players, software and accessories, probably will reach $22 billion this year, Frazier said.

Nintendo is boosting shipments to the U.S. by 50 percent during the fourth quarter to avoid shortages that limited sales last year, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of the company's U.S. operations, said at an Oct. 2 conference in San Francisco. The company has no plans to cut the price of Wii, which sells for $249, spokeswoman Denise Kaigler said.

Right Prices

``The continued popularity of our products is evidence that consumers believe they are a good value,'' Kaigler said today in an interview. ``Our products are offered at competitive price points.''

Microsoft cut the price of the least-expensive model of the Xbox 360, the Arcade, to $199.99 from $279.99 in September.

``We made our price moves that set us up for the holidays,'' Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said in an interview.

The Xbox 360 was second in September sales at 347,200 units, followed by Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 with 232,400.

Nintendo also led in sales of handheld game players. Consumers purchased 536,800 of the company's DS machines, compared with 238,100 units of Sony's PSP, NPD said.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, rose $1.53, or 6.8 percent, to $24.19 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. It has declined 32 percent this year. U.S.-listed Sony shares rose 31 cents to $23.74 and are down 56 percent this year. Nintendo fell 4,000 yen to 34,550 yen in Osaka yesterday, and is down 48 percent in 2008.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 16, 2008 20:17 EDT