Report: August XBLA sales favor Fruit Ninja, Toy Soldiers

Specific Xbox Live Arcade sales data remains elusive, so we turn to Gamasutra's analysis of leaderboard information to gain a rough idea of how August's new games performed. Diminutive soldiers proved to be the most popular icons, followed by the ingenious pearing of Kinect and ninjas.

Tower defense and shooter mash-up Toy Soldiers: Cold War appears to have sold 160,734 units by August's end, earning 115,448 players during its first week at the conclusion of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion. Gamasutra notes that this rate is actually slower than the original game's launch, which was paired with last year's "Block Party" lineup.

Fruit Ninja Kinect had 148,507 players for the month -- impressive in the context of Kinect-only downloadable games. And while it might not be as financially lucrative, the game's sure to expand its total player base in September while it's offered as a free bonus to owners of The Gunstringer.

From Dust and Bastion continued to do well in August, while Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet registered 48,389 players by the end of the month. Microsoft announced a DLC add-on called "Shadow Hunters" earlier this month, but it appears to have missed its (tentative) release date.