The Mortal Kombat series made its name by giving players new and nauseating ways to take life from their opponents. But the fighting franchise has for once breathed new life into something, as the industry-tracking NPD Group today released much-improved April US retail sales figures, where Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's latest game stood alone on top of the sales charts.

　　Mortal Kombat is back on top. Sales were up across the board according to NPD, with total gaming industry retail sales amounting to $961.2 million, a 20 percent leap over April 2010's take. Software sales were up 24 percent year-over-year, with Mortal Kombat leading the way with just under 900,000 copies sold. Valve's first-person puzzler Portal 2--released on the same day as Mortal Kombat--came in second place for the month. According to the NPD, a third game sharing that same April 17 launch date, the PlayStation 3-exclusive SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs, would have cracked the top 10 on a per-SKU basis or if sales of the game's PlayStation Move bundle would have counted under software instead of accessories. The NPD Group said that in all, five games broke the 250,000 copies sold mark, compared to just two games in April of 2010.

　　Hardware was also up for the month, with overall non-PC sales of game systems up 21 percent to $279.9 million. The Xbox 360 led the way with Microsoft trumpeting 297,000 systems sold. In a statement timed alongside the NPD's April sales data, SCEA senior director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold said PS3 hardware sales were up nearly 13 percent, noting that game sales jumped 40 percent year-over-year. According to the NPD Group, the Xbox 360, Wii, and DS also sold more games last month than in April 2010.

　　APRIL 2011 US GAME SALES

　　OVERALL DOLLAR SALES

　　Total retail sales: $961.2 million (+20%)

　　Total non-PC retail sales: $930.7 million (+21%)

　　Non-PC hardware: $279.9 million (+21%)

　　Total software: $533.6 million (+24%)

　　Non-PC software: $503.2 million (+26%)

　　Accessories: $147.6 million (+20%)

　　TOP 10 GAMES FOR APRIL 2011

　　Title (Platforms) - Publisher

　　1. Mortal Kombat (360, PS3) - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

　　2. Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC) - EA Partners

　　3. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, 360, DS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) - LucasArts

　　4. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC) - Activision

　　5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360, PS3, Wii) - Electronic Arts

　　6. Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts

　　7. Just Dance 2 (Wii) - Ubisoft

　　8. Michael Jackson: The Experience (360, PS3) - Ubisoft

　　9. Pokemon White Version (DS) - Nintendo

　　10. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC) - Take-Two Interactive

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