Sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console rose by 21 percent in the month of June, but it was still outsold by rival Xbox360 from Microsoft and Wii from Nintendo, according to a market research firm.

NPD Group reported that Sony sold 98,500 of its PS3 units during the month, compared to 198,400 Xbox 360s and 381,800 Wiis .

The company attributed the rise in sales to the $100 price cut it announced on June 9.

This jump in sales bodes very well for us heading into the fall as we launch an impressive arsenal of hardware and software, Jack Tretton, head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in a statement.

Overall, the video game industry saw its June sales up about 35 percent from May to $1.1 billion.

U.S. retail sales of game hardware, software and accessories grew to $6.1 billion in the first half of this year. That was up 43 percent from the same period in 2006 and follows several years of slow sales.

The sales were mostly dominated by Nintendo, however. The company's DS handheld sold 561,900 units driven by strong enthusiasm for new Pokemon games. Nintendo also captured 6 of the top 10 games for the month.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 saw the fastest growth however, with a 28 percent sales increase, outstripping both Playstation and Nintendo growth at 13 percent. The sales growth may have been driven by the introduction of new Xbox hardware.

In July Microsoft announced an update to its game console, bumping its hard-drive up to a 120-GB hard-drive, in a new system dubbed Xbox 360 Elite.