Microsoft published three big-name titles this past holiday season (and none of them were called Halo!) under its Microsoft Game Studios brand: Gears of War 2, Fable II, and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. The NPD group reports that two of the three from the house that built Xbox were a huge success: Gears of War 2 moved over 2 million copies and Fable 2 over a million. Despite a paltry first-party offering from Nintendo last year, including just a handful of memorable titles, the NPD group estimates that 49% of all videogame sales in the US in 2008 were for Nintendo platforms. In fact, 5 of the top 10 selling games in the US last year were on Nintendo platforms: 4 on Wii, 1 on DS.

All this rides on the good-feeling wave of the video game industry flourishing despite the harsh economic status. So whats the sour note in all these good tidings? Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Microsoft-owned Rare’s newest adaptation of the classic platformer, managed to move only 140,000 puny units from launch up to New Year’s. Ouch. What can you say? Maybe the Bear/Bird combo doesn’t move units the way it used to. I hope this doesn’t discourage Rare from revisiting its classic properties. Love them or hate them, Rare games have always been charming.

While we’re talking about disappointment, LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2, two of the highest-profile first-party offerings for the PlayStation 3, only managed to move about 600,000 units in the US apeice despite high critical marks for both titles. Keep in mind the PS3 has a smaller install base and these games were releasing alongside a smorgasbord of big-name games, but there it is. Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4 was the clear winner of the bunch moving just over a million units in the US.

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