Upon receiving the data, GameDaily BIZ spoke with NPD's Anita Frazier for some extra commentary.

BIZ: This is the first down month I believe in all of 2008, but considering the tough comparison with Halo 3 last year, it's not so bad right?

Anita Frazier: Not at all. It's still a huge sales month for the industry. Keep in mind that that one game made up 17% of industry sales last September so we have to keep it in context. There were a lot of games that generated terrific sales this month!

BIZ: With this month in mind, are you still expecting over $20 billion in sales for the U.S. industry this year?

AF: Although market turmoil has escalated in recent weeks, based on typical industry seasonality, total year revenues should be north of $20B for the year, maybe up to $22B.

BIZ: Were there any important data points or trends that took you by surprise?

AF: I wasn't really surprised but I think it's worth pointing out that almost every hardware system realized an increase in sales in September over August. I get asked a lot about how the economy is impacting the games business and there simply isn't any evidence that it is so far through September. When hardware systems, which are the more pricey items the industry offers, can increase sales in a rather turbulent economy, it's a pretty good sign for the industry going into the holiday season.

BIZ: The Xbox 360 hardware had a good month. How important was the price cut or was it more driven by new software like Rock Band 2, which was available only on 360 for the month?

AF: Although it's impossible to discern the impact of one factor versus another, and certainly both of those influences came into play this month, price cuts do stimulate hardware sales and I think that was the biggest factor in increasing the sales this month.

BIZ: Thanks Anita.