The annual E3 video game expo was held last month and there were some impressive new unveilings. Among the notable products was the Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360 that turns the player into a motion controller. A number of new video games were also unveiled.

One of the most important of the hardware devices unveiled at the show was the new redesigned Xbox 360, which was quickly dubbed the Xbox 360 Slim by many. The new Xbox 360 added in a new thinner profile, more storage with a 250GB HDD, five USB ports, and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi. The console carries the same $299 price tag as the older fat machine.

The redesign and new features have spurred sales of the new Xbox 360, just as Microsoft undoubtedly hoped. According to the latest figures from NPD Group for the gaming market in June 2010, the Xbox 360 surpassed the Wii in sales for June taking it to the number one spot for consoles, not counting portables. 

If sales of portable systems are figured in, the Nintendo DS still dominated the console market. NPD shows that console hardware sales grew by about 35% compared to June of 2009. However, the market for gaming as a whole declined thanks to reduced gaming software sales compared to June of 2009.

NPD predicts that interest in the PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect accessories will spur hardware sales. The new Xbox 360 sold 451,700 units for the month, the Wii sold 422,000 units, and the PS3 moved 304,800 units. The Nintendo DS sold 510,700 units and the PSP sold 121,000 during June.