US sales up 47 per cent in March, says Pachter

Ahead of NPD Group sales data to be released this Thursday, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has forecast March US sales of USD 850 million - up 47 per cent from the prior year.

Pachter also estimates that the PS3 once again outsold the Xbox 360, although the Nintendo Wii outsold the two of them combined - selling through an estimated 700,000 consoles.

He believes that Nintendo is now diverting a significant portion of its supply to Europe due to the weakening dollar, but that the company did ship the US its "fair share" in March to support the launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Pachter expects March sales to be driven by that title, along with Army of Two and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2.