For third straight month, Nintendo's portable outperforms Xbox 360 and PS3 in the US; Animal Crossing: New Leaf sales hit 660,000, while Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon rises to 820,000.

Citing NPD data, Nintendo announced today that the 3DS was July's best-selling game system in the United States, outperforming consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The 3DS has now been the top-seller for three straight months in the United States.

Nintendo did not provide specific sales data, but said 3DS hardware sales rose 14 percent year-over-year, while software sales jumped 45 percent compared to July 2012.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold a combined 150,000 physical and digital units in July, boosting its lifetime sales total to more than 660,000 copies. Life-to-date sales for another 3DS game, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, rose to 820,000 units during July, Nintendo said.

Wii U title New Super Mario Bros. U has now sold over 830,000 copies across physical and digital versions, Nintendo said.

Lastly, Nintendo touted the July 18 Virtual Console release of Earthbound as a strong point for the month. The company did not provide sales data for the game, but said only two eShop titles--New Super Luigi U and Pikmin 3--generated more consumer spend in the same time period since launch.

The NPD Group will release its full report for July in the next hour. Check back later for more.

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