GameDaily BIZ caught up with NPD's industry analyst Anita Frazier to get some further insight into the data.

BIZ: PS3 nearly tied Wii for monthly sales in January – the talk about PS3 gaining steam seems to be true. What do you think was driving PS3 sales in January? Do you think the Warner Bros. exclusive Blu-ray announcement was a big factor?

Frazier: The 40 GB model had big sales last month. Blu-ray may have had something to do with it, but it's probably more to do with the wide-availability of the lower cost model. Normally you would expect to see a title drive an uptick in hardware sales. In the case of PS3 this month, I think it was a combination of a number of factors and not one primary catalyst.

BIZ: Call of Duty 4 continues to take top honors, while Super Mario Galaxy fell down to sixth. What do you think this says about the market? Is it just a more mature market? I would have thought Mario would keep up a better sales pace...

Frazier: But I would counter that you should look at those Wii Play, Guitar Hero and Rock Band numbers, not to mention the NDS games rounding out the top 10. Plenty of family-friendly fare in the tops list.

Also, Mario sold 2.7 million units in the U.S. life-to-date....I wouldn't read too much into one month's performance. Those are pretty big numbers. Puts it in the top 10 of all Mario games....I'd say that's pretty solid!

BIZ: There's been talk from MS and retailers about Xbox 360 shortages. Do you believe this was a problem? How much higher could 360 sales have been?

Frazier: Not speaking to any particular platform, I certainly think that coming off a red-hot December there could very well have been instances of hardware shortages and it probably affected more than one hardware platform. It's not uncommon to have inventory balancing issues after the holidays. It's always tricky - no, impossible - to forecast exactly what will happen and plan for the pipeline.

BIZ: PS2 continues to sell quite well. Who at this point is buying the system? Are these actually new gamers, or people replacing old, broken down units?

Frazier: Yes, the PS2 is humming along quite nicely, proving that it remains a strong viable system. It's at a great price point now making it an easy purchase decision for those that may be new to gaming or less frequent gamers, but I'm sure some of the volume is coming from those replacing worn-out systems or buying an additional system for their home.

BIZ: Given January's performance, what is your take on how 2007's momentum will carry into this year? It's a bit premature to ask, but can 2008 top last year?

Frazier: Yes, it's pretty early to say what will happen, but I believe we'll see growth this year. I'm keeping an eye on software - at this point in the console lifecycle, hardware sales certainly remain very important but the spotlight now shines more brightly on what the software sales tell us about the market. Based on this month's results, software sales are off to a fantastic start. Accessories are also very hot, so the industry looks to be pretty healthy out the gate.

BIZ: Thanks Anita.