LA Noire, Brink top May US charts

LA Noire was the biggest selling game in the US during the month of May, according to the latest NPD data.

Splash Damage’s multiplayer FPS Brink debuted in second, followed by another new entry, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.

Portal 2, which debuted in second place last month, fell to four, while April’s number one, Mortal Kombat, rounded out the top five.

Here’s the full top 10 rundown:

1. L.A. Noire (360, PS3) Take 2 Interactive
2. Brink (360, PS3, PC) Bethesda Softworks
3. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) Disney Interactive Studios
4. Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts
5. Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360) Warner Bros. Interactive
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC) Activision Blizzard
7. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3) Majesco
8. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, PC) Take 2 Interactive
9. Just Dance 2 (Wii) Ubisoft
10. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, NDS, 360, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) Lucasarts

Software sales were down across all platforms apart from Xbox 360, which saw a tiny one per cent bump compared to this time last year.

“This month’s story really is about a light new release schedule as compared to last year. There were 42 new SKU’s introduced in May as compared to 58 last May, and 72 in 2009. This is reflected in the share of dollars contributed by May releases, which was 28 per cent in 2011as compared to 41 per cent last year,” noted NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

On the hardware side, Xbox 360 came out on top shifting 270,000 units – a 39 per cent year-on-year jump. As usual, NPD hasn’t released more detailed information on where the rest of the field came in but we’ll update as and when the numbers leak out.

However, it did confirm another disappointing month for the 3DS.

“Sales of the 3DS were light, but with next Sunday’s release of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, we will begin to see a slate of strong content come to market for the 3DS, which should help to significantly boost sales of hardware during the remainder of 2011,” explained Frazier.

“Combined sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360 (HD hardware) are up 28 per cent for the month and 21 per cent year to date. Although the declines in console hardware sales in 2011 are attributable to the Wii, the platform remains the best-selling of this generation at nearly 36 million installed in the US.”