Mark Androvich 23:30 (BST)
17/04/2008

Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the top-selling game in the US for the month of March, with 2.7 million units sold according to NPD data.

Brawl sold more than three times as many copies as the second game on the sales charts, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

Overall, US 1.7 billion worth of hardware and software were sold in the month of March - a 51 per cent increase from last year.

"You'd never know that the U.S. economy was under distress by looking at the videogames industry sales figures," NPD's analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement.

Three Nintendo Wii games finished in the top 10 - including Super Smash Bros. Brawl at number one, Wii Play in the fourth position and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at number seven.

Two PSP games - God of War and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy - also made the list.

The ten best-selling US titles for the month of March were:

• 1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) 2,700,000
• 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (360) 752,300
• 3. Army of Two (360) 606,100
• 4. Wii Play (Wii) 409,800
• 5. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) 340,500
• 6. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) 301,600
• 7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) 264,100
• 8. MLB 2K8 (360) 237,100
• 9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) 237,000
• 10. Army of Two (PS3) 224,900