Hardware sales are notoriously difficult to trust, obfuscated by research companies that seek to monetize findings and hardware companies keen to present stats in the most flattering light possible.

Still, there are reasons to take a look at analyst Michael Pachter's estimates for August, which he released in a note to investors. Pachter is well regarded by the financial media and has excellent contacts at big games companies and retailers.

His numbers for August show that 390,000 Wii U, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles were sold in the U.S. for the month. Wedbush analyst Pachter said that Wii U sales more than doubled year-over-year to 65,000, helped along by the continuing success of Mario Kart 8.

PlayStation 4 sold 175,000, down 7 percent month-on-month, he said, while Xbox came in at 150,000, up 14 percent on the previous month. Pachter said that the Kinect-less $399 Xbox One and a Madden bundle had helped Microsoft.