At this point, Nintendo doesn’t really need to respond to the monthly NPD results, but simply needs to let the numbers speak for themselves, but for some reason, the company seems compelled to release statements pointing out their market dominance, possibly just to push the knife just a little deeper into the sides of Sony and Microsoft.

In any case, Nintendo has pointed to the DS Lite and DSi’s exceptional sales performance during 2009, selling a combined 11.2 million units in the US, which the publisher claims sets a new calendar-year sales record for a videogame hardware device. As of the end of 2009, lifetime sales for the DS and DSi in the US have surpassed 38.8 million units, which beats the pair’s older sibling, the Game Boy Advance.

In addition, the Wii sold 9.6 million units during 2009, 18.6% of which was sold during November of December. 2009’s tally is, however, down 5.7% from 2008 (boo hoo). According to Nintendo, and as of the end of 2009, lifetime sales for the Wii in the US have exceeded 27.2 million units.

Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, Cammie Dunaway, said in a statement:

“Wii, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi combined to sell more than 7 million units in the month of December alone. Clearly there is overwhelming consumer demand for fun games, motion controls and value.

“This remarkable hardware sales surge presents a tremendous software opportunity for Nintendo and its third-party partners as we head into 2010.”

See what Sony and Microsoft have to say about December’s NPD results, and read about the overall performance of the US retail console game market in 2009 over here.