Nintendo Announces Wii Beats US PS2 Record

Nintendo of America has revealed that early sales estimates show Wii sold more than three million in December 2009. This would mean it beat the previous record number of systems sold in the same month, which was 2.7 million PlayStation 2 units.

The following items were announced by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata in Japan:

• Although official U.S. sales data for December and all of 2009 will be announced by the NPD Group on 14th January, it appears that U.S. consumers responded enthusiastically to Nintendo's Wii home console in December. Nintendo estimates that December sales in the United States will exceed 3 million units.


• Nintendo estimates that the portable Nintendo DS lineup, including the Nintendo DSi, set a new all-time calendar-year U.S. sales record for any console or hand-held system.


• Nintendo software also continued to perform well. Although the NPD Group will provide the full sales numbers for each game, Nintendo estimates that lifetime U.S. sales of New Super Mario Bros. Wii are approaching 4 million, which would mean sales of roughly 2.5 million in December alone after a strong start in November. The game, which is the first Super Mario Bros. game to include simultaneous four-player action, launched in the United States on 15th November.

Firm confirmation will arrive when the NPD Group unveils its data, but if Nintendo's estimates are close enough, Sony will have indeed lost its long-running record.