It was bound to happen and anyone could see this coming. According to the latest data released by NPD Group, Halo 3, the final episode of the legendary trilogy created by Bungie Studios for Microsoft, was the best selling game in September, with 3,3 million units sold.

Released on September 25, Halo 3 brought the company more than $170 million in the first day of availability, surpassing by far its predecessor (Halo 2, with “only” $125 million) and this year’s Spiderman 3 ($67 million).

In fact, according to the NPD Group we could say that Halo 3 has gone “triple platinum”. As you might know Microsoft released three versions of Halo 3, Standard, Collector and Legendary. Although NPD Group didn’t revealed how many copies were sold from each versions, it said that top three spots on the software charts were occupied by them, with the Standard Edition leading the pack.

It seems like the $10 million invested by Microsoft in the Halo 3 marketing campaign had paid off more than expected. The Master Chief’s adventures boosted also the Xbox 360 sales, and for the first time in months Microsoft’s gaming platform gained the “The Best Selling Console” title. With 528,000 sold Microsoft outsold Nintendo Wii, for the first time since the last holiday season.

Despite the Halo 3 hysteria Nintendo Wii has proved to be a tough contender with 501 000 units sold. The Japanese company could also celebrate its best month in terms of sales since the last holiday season.

Unimpressed by Microsoft’s offensive President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime said for Reuters: “The Wii went up against the self-proclaimed ‘biggest entertainment launch ever’ and we emerged with our best month of the year. They fired their bullet and our gun is loaded and ready to fire throughout the holidays.”

As for Sony and its PlayStation 3, maybe someone should start sending a distress signal, something like SOPS3 (Save our PlayStation 3). The sales of the Blu-Ray console have dropped with 8 percent compared to August. During September Sony sold only 119,000 units, but maybe the future will look better as the company recently announced a new cheaper version of PS3 with a 40 GB hard drive. Sony’s PS2 is still a hit, with 215,000 units sold.

Nintendo has another reason of joy as its Nintendo DS has sold 495 800 units, almost double than Sony’s PSP (284,000 units)

In the software sales Wii Play holds a distant second spot with 282,000 units sold while NDS the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Nintendo achieved the third place with 224,000 units.

Overall, thanks to the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, the video game sales jumped up by 74% in the US console hardware sales were driven up 188% to $418.6 million while console software sales were up 64% to $550.5 million.