Wii outsells PS3 by 2-to-1 in US

Nintendo sold 476,000 units of its new Wii videogame console in the US in November, more than twice the number of PlayStation 3s sold by rival Sony, as the two consoles debuted in the middle of last month, research group NPD said on Friday.

Sony's PS3 sales came in at 197,000.

Microsoft sold 511,000 units of its Xbox 360 in November, according to NPD.

That console, released just over a year ago, is locked in a three-way battle with the PlayStation 3 and Wii, which were released in mid-November amid speculation over whether Sony can maintain its dominance over the global console market after selling more than 110 million PlayStation 2 units globally.

The Japanese electronics maker had said it would ship 400,000 PS3s into the US for its launch, but there has been broad industry speculation that the company had fallen far short of its initial goal.

Nintendo has said it expects to ship 4 million Wiis worldwide by 31 December, double the number of PS3s promised by Sony. Late last month, Nintendo said it sold 600,000 Wiis in the first eight days after its 19 November US debut. The Wii launched in the UK on 8 December.

Microsoft, which makes most of its sales in North America, is targeting global Xbox 360 shipments of 10 million by the end of the year.

In the US, Nintendo's Wii retails for $250, Sony's top-line 60GB PS3 retails $600, and Microsoft's premium Xbox 360 retails for $400. In the UK, the Wii is £180, the premium Xbox 360 is £280 (often with a game included) and the 60GB PS3 is expected to cost £425 when in launches here in March.

NPD is still calculating historical console sales data. NPD said overall videogame-related sales were $1.7bn in November.

Sales of games that run on consoles and portable players were $804m. Hardware sales were $771m, fuelled by consoles and Nintendo's DS handheld device, which sold 918,000 units in November.

NPD receives data representing approximately two-thirds of the US retail sales and makes projections for the remainder of the market based on a sampling of US consumers.

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