NPD, that oh-so-faithful monitor of the gaming industry, released the hardware sales figures for last month and it seems that, once again, the Wii has maintained its presence on the top of the sales chart this year. The PS3 did manage a huge leap up in sales due to the efforts of the impressively aged Solid Snake, resulting in approximately twice as many PS3s as Microsoft sold 360s, but did not manage to trump the Wii’s impressive records of sales...at least not yet. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was still the wallflower of the colorful dance that is the gaming hardware industry as the 360 only managed to sell 219,800, which was only 30,000 more then the Playstation 2 and, even worse, 117,600 less then what the PSP sold last month.

Microsoft hasn’t issued a formal response at the time of this writing, but what we do have are two press releases from the big winners in the game console sales challenge for last year. Going from top to bottom on the sales chart, then, is Nintendo’s statement, delivered by Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Nintendo of America Cammie Dunaway, who commented on the success of the Wii by stating that “Wii was created with the goal of expanding the gaming universe through its intuitive motion-sensing controller.” That clearly has been demonstrated by the 10.9 million Wiis that have been purchased since the Wii’s 2006 launch.

Despite these success Nintendo, as we have reported on yesterday, is not reclining on its pile of magical transforming leaves. Dunaway phrased this continual effort on the company’s part by saying that Nintendo would move forward in order “to pioneer new ways for people to interact with their video games and with one another.”

Dunaway isn’t the only game company executive who is in a heightened state of excitement at the moment, however, not by a long shot. We also have a statement here from the president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Jack Tretton, who echoed his statement during the unveiling of the PS3 fall lineup when he dubbed this year “the year of the PS3” due to the fact that “the Playstation brand is truly hitting its stride on its long-term opportunity across all three platforms.” Mr. Tretton said that the sales figures for June of this year is “proof to the continued momentum of the PS3 and affirms that we’re exactly where we expected to be.”

This improved position is due for such titles like “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, Resistance 2, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and NBA ’09: The Inside.” The games that have done so much, and most likely will do so much for the PS3 in the coming months, aren’t the only thing that will continue to the success of the console. Mr. Tretton concluded with the statement that “the new Playstation Network video delivery service will be a big driver for the PS3 and PSP, allowing consumers to extend their multi-media and entertainment experience.”

The sales figures released from the NPD Group are now comfortably situated below in all their stately grandeur.

• Nintendo DS: 783,000
• Nintendo Wii: 666,700
• Playstation 3: 405,500
• PlayStation Portable: 337,400
• Xbox 360: 219,800
• Playstation 2: 188,798

We will keep the stormy seas of video games news under surveillance for Microsoft’s statement to the June sales figures.