Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continued its reign atop the U.S. console market in April, according to data from the NPD Group market research firm cited by the Redmond company this afternoon.

Microsoft also released internal sales numbers for two key games for its Kinect motion controller, and said the number of games made to work with the device will increase three-fold this year.

Xbox 360 sold 297,000 units in the U.S. in April, according to NPD data released by Microsoft. That was a 60 percent increase over last April, larger growth than any other current-generation console, the Redmond company said. The Xbox 360 has led the U.S. console market 10 out of the past eleven months, Microsoft says.

Five of the top 10 U.S. games in April were for Xbox 360: “Mortal Kombat,” “Portal 2,” “Crysis 2,” “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters,” and “Michael Jackson: The Experience.”

NPD said sales of the PlayStation 3 also increased in April, compared to the same month the previous year, but didn’t give specific numbers. (NPD now leaves it up to each console maker to release its own sales data.) Sony has been experiencing a high-profile outage of the PlayStation Network following an online attack, but it’s not clear how that might be affecting PlayStation 3 sales.

Seeking to address questions about sales of games for Kinect, Microsoft said sales of “Kinect Sports” have exceeded 3 million units worldwide, and “Dance Central” sales have topped 2.5 million units. In addition, the company said the number of Kinect games will triple by the end of the year. One independent site that tracks Kinect currently lists 26 titles for the motion controller.

According to NPD, total sales of video game hardware, accessories and games in physical retail stores rose 21 percent to $961 million for the month.

Here are the top 10 games for the month — showing “Portal 2” from Bellevue-based Valve coming in at No. 2, behind only Mortal Kombat 2011.

Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)
Rank Publisher
Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360)**
1 Warner Bros.
Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC) 2 Electronic Arts
Lego Star Wars III: Clone Wars (Wii, NDS, 360, 3DS, PS3, PC)
3 LucasArts
Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)**
4 Activision Blizzard
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360, PS3, Wii)**
5 Electronic Arts
Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC)
6 Electronic Arts
Just Dance 2 (Wii)
7 Ubisoft
Michael Jackson The Experience (360, Wii, PS3, NDS, PSP)
8 Ubisoft
Pokemon White Version (NDS)
9 Nintendo
NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)
10 Take 2 Interactive

 

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