Believe it or not, things got worse in June. According to figures released by NPD this afternoon, overall US retail sales of non-PC game software, hardware, and accessories shrank by 31 percent to $1.17 billion, down from $1.7 billion the prior year. The results, the poorest monthly showing since a dramatic 41 percent drop-off in September 2000, were much worse than the 20 percent decline many gloomy analysts were expecting.

"The video games industry realized a significant decline when compared to June 2008, the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines," said NPD analyst Anita Fraizer in a statement. "The first half of the year has been tough largely due to comparisons against a stellar first-half performance last year, but still, this level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in the industry."

Hardware was particularly hard hit, shrinking 38 percent from $617.25 million in June 2008 to just $382.2 million. The drop was somewhat paradoxical, as sales of the DS--boosted by the popular camera-equipped DSi, released in April--were still robust at 766,500 units. Its success, though, stands in contrast to virtually every other platform's total, including the second-place Wii's 361,700 units. In third was the Xbox 360 with 240,600 units--nearly 76,000 units ahead of bronze medal winner the PlayStation 3 and its 164,700 units. Sony's other two platforms, the PSP and PlayStation 2, took home 163,500 and 152,700 units, respectively.