Using Fallout 3, Totilo wandered around the bomb-blasted, irradiated and devastated Washington D.C. to try and capture, in-game, some of what you’ll be seeing today on television if you watch the inauguration.

His photo tour of Fallout 3’s D.C. starts out with a glimpse of the National Mall as viewed from the top of the crumbling Washington Monument. It ends with a glimpse from the ground of the mall looking up at the Washington Monument.

It’s an interesting use of gaming to try and reflect on the day’s news and makes me wonder why more developers don’t get involved. I suppose it might not be taken the right way if Bethesda released an Obama patch for Fallout 3 today.

Barack Obama Inauguration Site, Rendered Via ‘Fallout 3′ [MTV Multiplayer]

Nintendo hardware secured the top spot last month — as it had done every month in 2008 — thanks to record-breaking Nintendo DS sales. It also secured the number two spot, yet again, with strong sales of the Wii. The console sold in excess of 2.1 million units to U.S. consumers, besting its record-smashing November take of 2.04 million.

But it’s the Nintendo DS that set the bar highest, as no video game platform has ever sold more than 3 million units in one month, breaking the PlayStation 2s record of 2.7 million in December of 2002. Total Nintendo hardware sales were over 5.19 million for the month.

The Xbox 360 took third place, selling over 1.4 million, almost twice that of its PlayStation 3 competition.

• Nintendo DS – 3,040,000
• Wii – 2,150,000
• Xbox 360 – 1,440,000
• PSP – 1,020,000
• PlayStation 3 – 726,000
• PlayStation 2 – 410,000

Total hardware spend for the month of December was an impressive $1.88 billion USD, bringing the year total to $7.81 billion. That’s an 11% improvement over the previous year, a 2% improvement over the previous month.

“38 months into this generation of hardware, the three new systems have sold a combined 38.2 million units, whereas at the same point last generation, in December 2003, the three systems had sold 36.9 million units,” writes NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “Factoring in the continued strong sales of the PS2 even after the new systems were released, 52 million systems have sold at retail since November ‘05.”

The best selling games, across all platforms, for the year are as follows, with more year-to-date sales data after the jump.

• Halo 3 – 3,700,000
• Madden NFL 08 – 3,200,000
• Guitar Hero II – 2,800,00
• Wii Play (w/ Remote) – 2,500,000
• Pokemon Diamond – 2,100,000
• Pokemon Pearl – 1,500,000
• Spider-Man 3 – 1,400,000
• Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock – 1,400,000

The year-to-date total revenue is actually at $US10.5 billion, up from $US7 billion at the same point last year, making for a 49% increase year over year. Total video game hardware sales are now at $US4.1 billion, up from $US2.2 billion from the previous year. Finally, video game software sales are at $US5 billion, up 23% from the previous year’s take. It’s slightly less impressive than the 85% increase in hardware, especially considering the higher price points for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 software, not to mention various flavors of Guitar Hero, which can run up to $99 per SKU.

Anita Frazier from the NPD Group points out that “This year sales have already achieved the annual sales number for 2005 – and the two biggest months are yet to come. I think we’ll see not only record-breaking revenues but record-breaking year-over-year growth when the final numbers are tallied.”

Yay! Yachts and parking spaces for everyone!

The top ten games sold in the U.S. for the month of October are below, with additional numbers after the jump.

01. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) – 433,800
02. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (Xbox 360) – 383,200
03. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (Wii) – 286,300
04. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (PS2) – 271,100
05. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) – 262,800
06. Wii Play (Wii) – 239,700
07. The Orange Box (Xbox 360) – 238,400
08. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) -231,700
09. FIFA Soccer 08 (PS2) – 129,700
10. Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes A Day (DS) – 116,900Total video game software sales checked in at $US513.9 million, up 39% from the previous October’s at $US369.3 million. Of that $513.9 million, $412.5 million was spent on console software, with $101.5 million dedicated to portable game software. Both are also up from the previous October.

Anita Frazier, analyst at the NPD, commented on Guitar Hero III’s sales, saying “Very few games sell in excess of 1 million units in their first month in market, but Guitar Hero III did easily with combined sales of 1.4 million units in only 6 days. Since it has broad appeal, it’s also the type of game that should continue to do very well throughout the holidays.”

Guess that means a sequel is likely.

Monthly sales follow, with more hardware numbers after the jump.

• Wii – 519,000
• Nintendo DS – 458,000
• Xbox 360 – 366,000
• PSP – 286,000
• PlayStation 2 – 184,000
• PlayStation 3 – 121,000

Total video game hardware sales reached $US469.7 million for the month of October 2007, compared to $US207.1 million for the year prior. That 127% increase can largely be attributed to the higher cost and availability of the latest hardware generation, specifically the Wii and PlayStation 3.

Of that $469.7 million, $349.6 million was spent on console hardware and $120.1 million was earmarked for portable hardware. All numbers were up considerably over the year prior as more consumers made the transition to new platforms.

In addition to all that impressive spending, some $130 million worth of accessories were purchase by gamers in the U.S.