Dead Space 3 leads February retail sales

Dead Space 3 dismembered Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's grip on retail sales, according to the NPD Group's February retail report. The action-horror franchise, which was falsely rumored to be facing cancellation after poor sales figures, claimed the No. 1 spot after its release early in the month.

The other new releases to make the top 10 were Crysis 3 at No. 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance at No. 5, Aliens: Colonial Marines at No. 6, and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time at No. 9. Total software sales were down 27 percent from 2011, sinking from $484 million to $352 million.

Fire Emblem: Awakening was one notable February release which failed to chart. Nintendo says the game sold more than 180,000 units, 63,000 of those through 3DS eShop (via GameSpot.)

In the hard land of ware, Xbox 360 led the pack for the 26th month in a row with 302,000 unit sales (via Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb). Both Wii U and PS Vita saw increased sales from January, respectively increasing by more than 40 and 30 percent. That would put Wii U's sales at about 82,000, assuming its January sales were on the high end of previous estimates.

February 2013 Top 10 Games
1. Dead Space 3 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3, Wii U PC) Activision
3. Crysis 3 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts
4. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC) 2K Sports
5. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, 360) Konami
6. Aliens: Colonial Marines (360, PS3, PC) Sega
7. Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, PS3, Wii U) Ubisoft
8. Far Cry 3 (360, PS3, PC) Ubisoft
9. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, PSV) Sony Computer Entertainment
10. Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U) Electronic Arts