But at least for the month of February, NPD Group figures show that the Wii sold over 335,000 units in the US, beaten only by another Nintendo system, the slimline Nintendo DS Lite and the larger DS selling a combined 485,000 units, or when combined, 54% of all games consoles sold in February, which is more than the competition combined!

Reggie Fils-Amie, the President of Nintendo America, is rightfully most pleased at the result. He said that”"We're gratified that the explosive appeal of Wii, in terms of both new players and new ways to play, has created unprecedented demand, substantially beyond supply. But we also understand that there are hundreds of thousands of consumers still waiting to get their hands on the system so we continue to both ship more units to retail every week and work non-stop to build capacity.”

According to the NPD Group’s latest figures, February saw an astounding US $441 million in software sales for all games consoles in the US, which is an incredible 28% higher than January, with these figures excellent news for all three console makers.

Number 2 in the sales figures is PS2 with 295,000 units sold, still outselling the Xbox 360 and the PS3, with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 managing 228,000 units, with the PSP in fourth place at 176,000 units, and the PS3 taking fifth (and last) place at only 127,000 units, despite plenty of units on store shelves.

All of that said, these figures are only for the US, and only for the month of February, with 10 more months of sales figures to go before we get a true picture of what happened in 2007, remembering that half the world can’t even officially buy a PS3 – yet – and with plenty of amazing titles due for all five games consoles in the months ahead.

Nevertheless it’s an important sign that Nintendo’s strategy of revolutionizing gameplay towards fun at the expense of super-realistic graphics seems to have delivered the goods, not only for Nintendo, but for consumers around the world who simply love the way the Wii works. Everyone loves to wave their Wii around, it seems, with Nintendo the first to allow consumers to truly do this and not get embarrassed with all the Wii waving.

It also shows that while the PS3 and Xbox 360 are all-in-one entertainment and gaming machines, Nintendo’s strategy of a mostly games only device has proven a winner, although it has to be said that the Wii has strong online capabilities, if somewhat limited by its standard definition output, and an ever growing back-catalogue of classic games, although this last feature is also available on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Consumers also seem to love Nintendo games, whether on the DS or Wii platform, 10 of the 20 top selling games for the 2 months of the year so far only available for Nintendo consoles, a remarkable effort that must be applauded, and that is set to keep Sony, Microsoft and all third party games makers on their toes for some time to come.

The big question, however, is whether or not Nintendo can keep on outperforming the competition. A recent IDC report has suggested that Nintendo will sell more units that Microsoft or Sony in 2007 and even 2008, but we’ve all read, or read of reports that have put the PS3 or even the Xbox 360 at the top of the heap, meaning everyone’s reading of the tea leaves is coming out a little differently and is constantly changing.

So far, however, the Nintendo Wii is doing spectacularly well, even in the face of continuing strong sales for the years-old PS2. The true challenge for Nintendo is to keep on bringing its consumers great games that they want to play at timely intervals. If they can do this, and deliver top-notch titles, then the Wii really wiill be the console to beat this year and next.

Sony and Microsoft, we’re looking at you: the challenge is out. Can you beat the Wii?
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Alex Zaharov-Reutt  Consoles  Games  Microsoft  Nintendo  PlayStation  Sony  Wii  Xbox