July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co.'s Wii, the machine that plays games by swinging a motion-sensing controller like a bat, overtook Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 as the leading console in U.S. homes among the latest generation of video-game players.

As of last month, U.S. consumers had purchased almost 10.9 million Wii consoles since the player was introduced in November 2006, passing the Xbox 360, which began selling in 2005, research firm NPD Group Inc. said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

The Wii, which gained popularity by targeting the market for easy-to-play games, has been the top-selling console in all but one month in the U.S. since it went on sale, according to NPD. Worldwide, Nintendo is projecting the Wii's annual sales to surpass the number of consoles that PlayStation-maker Sony Corp. sells for the first time this fiscal year.

``Wii is bringing people of all ages into the video-game experience,'' Cammie Dunaway, head of marketing for Nintendo's U.S. unit, said in an interview.

Nintendo, down 17 percent this year, was unchanged at 55,800 yen as of the midday break in Osaka, while Sony fell 0.9 percent to 4,350 yen in Tokyo. Microsoft gained 26 cents to $27.52 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

In June, U.S. stores sold more than 666,000 Wii consoles, 405,500 PlayStation 3s and 219,800 Xbox 360s, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said in an e-mailed statement.

Total industry sales rose 53 percent to $1.69 billion in June from $1.1 billion a year earlier, NPD said. Consoles and portable players jumped 54 percent to $615.1 million from $399.2 million. Game sales increased 61 percent to $872.6 million from $542.2 million.

Year-to-Date

For the first six months of the year, game sales are up 49 percent to $4.3 billion from $2.89 billion a year earlier, while consoles and portables have gained 23 percent to $2.88 billion.

Total sales likely will reach a record $22 billion this year, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement.

``Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,'' made by Konami Corp. for Sony's PlayStation 3, was the top-selling single game with 774,600 copies purchased. The number doesn't include copies sold together with the console, NPD said.

Versions of ``Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure'' sold 1.1 million copies in multiple formats, NPD said.

Six of the 10 best-selling games in June were titles made for Nintendo, including ``Wii Fit,'' which ranked fourth, the company said. The exercise game is sold with a balance board for use in workouts and games that simulate skiing and soccer.

Upgrades

The Wii, at $249, is the least-expensive of the newer consoles. Microsoft and Tokyo-based Sony both announced plans this week to increase the size of hard drives on their machines, without raising the price, to attract customers.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, tripled the storage capacity of a $349 Xbox 360 to 60 gigabytes and Sony doubled the hard drive on its $399 PlayStation 3 to 80 gigabytes. Nintendo isn't planning to add a hard drive to the Wii, Dunaway said.

``Looking at historical data, hardware price reductions have been a good incentive for a broader consumer base to invest in a new-gen system, which encourages continued industry growth across all categories,'' Frazier said.

In April, the Kyoto-based company forecast it will sell 25 million Wii consoles in the year ending in March 2009, which would help it pass Sony to become the world's largest vendor of home video-game consoles. The estimate is 31 percent higher than the number of PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 machines that Sony has projected to sell this fiscal year.

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

Last Updated: July 17, 2008 22:53 EDT