Posted: Tue., May 13, 2008, 1:11pm PT

Nintendo does Wii-ly well in Japan

Console still outpacing Playstation 3

Nintendo has sold six million Wii consoles in Japan, a record for TV game consoles since game mag publisher Enterbrain began its sales surveys in 1996.

Launched in December 2006, Wii became an immediate hit, changing the way millions played videogames. Unlike other game platforms, the Wii encourages physical activities such as swinging the Wii wand like a tennis racket or golf club to hit an on-screen ball.

By comparison, Sony PlayStation 3, which went on sale a month earlier than Wii, had sold 2.06 million units in Japan as of May 4, according to Enterbrain figures.

Enterbrain also announced that the Wii Fit workout software has sold two million units only 24 weeks since its July bow -- a speed record for Wii software, although two other Wii packages have attained this mark.

Enterbrain bases its numbers for game software and hardware sales on surveys of 35,000 game sales outlets across Japan. 


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