Despite huge sales for Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the crucial holiday month of November saw games sales fall.

The industry has seen sales numbers decline and in spite of a huge month for was no different than the last nine months of 2009. For the month, according to industry analyst The NPD Group, sales across the entire video game business were $2.7 billion, down 7.6 percent from $2.92 billion a year earlier.

NPD commented that part of the problem was because industry-wide sales were so high in 2008 that even despite this November's significant drop, the month was still only the second-best November on record.

Console sale winner was Nintendo's Wii, with 1.26 million units sold. Microsoft saw its Xbox 360 take a solid second place with 819,500 units sold, and Sony's PlayStation 3 brought up the rear with 710,400 consoles moved. Despite the fact that there was a big jump in PS3 sales, it was a disappointing year for Sony. Demand increased for the machine in the wake of its mid-August price cut to $299.

Though it did finish in third place, the PS3's sales were through the roof compared to last year, almost certainly due to the price cut. Sony's sales of 710,400 PS3s was up 87.9 percent from last November's poor showing of just 378,000 units.