'Grand Theft Auto' can't slow the Wii

Nintendo's Wii video-game console dominated U.S. sales in April despite the release of the blockbuster "Grand Theft Auto IV" for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, according to data released Thursday.

More than 714,000 Wiis were sold in the country for the month, according to the NPD Group research firm. Microsoft's Xbox 360 beat out the PlayStation 3, but only by a whisker -- 188,000 units to 187,100 units.

The statistics were highly anticipated in the industry because of the potential for the April 29 "Grand Theft Auto IV" launch to fuel sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360. More than 1.8 million copies of the game were sold for the Microsoft console, and 1 million were sold for the PS3. But the NPD numbers for sales of the consoles were lower than analysts had expected.

"It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. "However, since the game was only in the market for five days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data."

Microsoft, which released the Xbox 360 a year before the debut of the Wii and the PS3, has sold a cumulative total of 10.1 million units in the country. Nintendo has sold 9.5 million Wiis; Sony, 4.4 million PS3s.