The video games industry skyrocketed in June, although analysts had predicted a bleak month for the video game industry as a whole.  Both hardware and software numbers were up from this same time last year, proving that the industry can still throw a few surprises at us.  Software sales came in at $444 million, while hardware sales landed at $297.8 million.  The launch of the Nintendo DS Lite, which has become a worldwide sensation, sparked the usually slow months of hardware sales.  The Xbox 360 continues to sell well, despite the fact that there has been a sparse amount of titles released recently.  The Playstation 2 continued its dominance of the market, selling over 300,000 units at its newly discounted price of $129.99.  The top software sales are listed below:

TOP 10 CONSOLE GAMES, JUNE 2006
1) [I]New Super Mario Bros.[/I] (DS, Nintendo)
2) [I]Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[/I] (PS2, Rockstar/Take-Two)
3) [I]Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day[/I] (DS, Nintendo)
4) [I]Cars[/I] (PS2, THQ)
5) [I]Hitman: Blood Money[/I] (Xbox 360, Eidos)
6) [I]Cars[/I] (Game Boy Advance, THQ)
7) [I]FIFA World Cup 2006[/I] (PS2, Electronic Arts)
8) [I]Big Brain Academy[/I] (DS, Nintendo)
9) [I]Hitman: Blood Money[/I] (PS2, Eidos)
10) [I]Cars[/I] (GameCube, THQ)