Sales of video games  and hardware defied bad economic news and climbed 18 percent over October of last year, according to the NPD Group.

The market research firm reported that Nintendo's hot Wii console led a 5 percent increase in hardware sales to $494.7 million.  The Wii stayed on top in the North American market, shipping 803,000 units, an increase of 116,000 from the previous month. The Japanese maker has had trouble meeting demand, but has sold over 13 million units since its introduction in November 2006.

Microsoft is still No. 2 in the console market, with a 7 percent increase to 371,000 units of its Xbox 360 in October. Microsoft cut prices for the console last month.

Sony's Playstation 3 was third with an 18.2 percent rse to 190,000 units.

Sales of software grew 35 percent to $696.8 million. The top-selling title in October was Microsoft's Fable II, followed by Nintendo's Wii Fit exercise program, according to NPD.