Madden, Mario Dominate August U.S. Game Sales

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - John Madden and "Mario" -- both roly-poly, both beloved and both featured in blockbuster video games -- dominated game sales charts in August, according to data released on Tuesday.

"Madden NFL 2003," published by Electronic Arts Inc., was the top-selling video game in August, based on units sold, according to data released by market research service NPDFunworld.

It was the top game on two of the three leading consoles platforms in the month, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 .

The only platform Madden did not dominate was Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube, where the top seller was "Super Mario Sunshine," the newest game in a franchise that has generated billions of dollars in sales over the last 20 years.

"Sunshine" managed to clinch the No. 2 sales rank overall for the month even though it was not released until Aug. 26.

However, it was the only GameCube game to make the top 20 for the month. The PS2 dominated, with 11 titles on the list. The Xbox came in with four, Nintendo's handheld Game Boy Advance had two, and the older Game Boy Color and Sony PlayStation had one each.

Among the independent publishers, Electronic Arts led the month, with five of the top 20 games, including four in the top 10 titles.

Probably the most heavily-watched competition of the month was the sales battle between "Madden," which has dominated, and "NFL 2K3," Sega Corp.'s football title that the company has pushed as a strong alternative in the category.

"2K3" was the No. 8 game of the month on the PS2, No. 3 on the Xbox and No. 14 overall for August.

For reference, Madden 2003 was released on August 12, two weeks before Mario.