Nintendo’s Wii set the pace in the United States as video game software and hardware posted twin 11 percent gains in November, according to a sales report.

The NPD Group reported that Wii software increased 64 percent year over year, versus 49 percent for Sony’s Playstation 3 and a 2 percent decline for the Xbox 360.

On the hardware side, 2 million Wii units, were sold a 108 percent increase over November 2007. Shoppers snapped up 1.5 million units of Nintendo’s DS handheld, a 1 percent increase. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 sold 834,000 units, an 8 percent increase.

In a research note, UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter said the results were “much stronger than we expected” based in part on software made by console manufacturers. Software from Nintendo increased 33 percent, Microsoft 79 percent and Sonly 45 percent.

The top five selling software titles were: Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 3600; Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360); Wii Play with remote; Wii Fit, and Mario Kart (Wii).