Driven by sales of Kinect, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling game console hardware system last month, a 68 percent increase over November 2009, according to data from NPD Group.

Total U.S. game sales reached $2.99 billion, up 8 percent from last year. For the year, game sales are at $14.06 billion, down about 5 percent from where it was last year, though NPD said November gains offset a good portion of year-to-date declines.

The Nintendo DS was the best-selling system overall, though NPD suggested that buyers were attracted by limited-edition options and sales. The red Nintendo DS was the top-selling option, followed by the cheaper white system.

"We expect a big jump in sales in November due to seasonality and the influence of holiday, but the change this November over October is bigger across most platforms than it was last November," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. "This could point to the impact of aggressive retail promotions during the critical Black Friday week."

Overall, November was the best November on record in terms of physical retail sales, NPD said, beating November 2008 by about $30 million. Every category was up except portable hardware and software.

The Xbox 360 had five of the 10 best-selling accessories for the month, with the Kinect landing at number one. The Xbox 360 platform accounted for 40 percent of total industry sales, with accessories making up 60 percent of that categories' dollar sales last month.

"With one month of sales, it's the top-selling accessory item in terms of dollar sales on a year-to-date basis," Frazier said about the Kinect.

On the software side, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" sold 8.4 million units in the U.S., making it the seventh best-selling game of all time. "Black Ops" accounted for 25 percent of all video game software sales last month, though the music and dance genre increased 38 percent, fueled by "Just Dance 2" and "Dance Central."