U.S. sales of videogames and consoles continued their decline in February, falling by 15% despite the release of new titles like “Bioshock 2.”

Research firm NPD Group said February sales came in at $1.26 billion, compared with $1.48 billion a year ago. The drop comes after a sluggish January and downbeat estimates by game companies like Electronic Arts.

The top-selling game in February was Take Two Interactive’s “Bioshock 2,” which sold almost 563,000 units for the Xbox 360 after its Feb. 10 release date. Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ sold a total of about 567,000 units for both the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3, and “New Super Mario Bros.” for the Nintendo Wii sold 555,600. Both of those games have been out for several months.

February’s other new games didn’t fare as well, with “Dante’s Inferno” by Electronic Arts selling a total of about 467,000 units and “Heavy Rain” by Sony selling about 219,000 units.

Sales of game consoles were down 20% year-over-year to about $426 million. The Wii continued a decline, selling about 398,000 units from nearly 466,000 in January. The PS3 sold about 360,000 units and the Xbox about 422,000; both of those consoles were up from a month ago.

“Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. But she struck an optimistic note for March, citing “strong new releases and Easter gift-buying.”

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