Wii outsells PS3 more than 3-to-1

Nintendo's Wii outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 by more than 3-to-1 in Japan in December, regaining its position as the top-selling videogame console.

Nintendo sold 774,123 units of the Wii in the five weeks to 30 December, compared with 232,421 units of the PS3, game machine publisher Enterbrain said on Monday.

The PS3 beat the Wii in Japan monthly sales in November thanks to price cuts and a release of a new model. That was the PS3's first monthly win since the consoles' launches more than a year ago.

But Nintendo launched its Wii Fit home fitness game on 1 December in Japan, breathing life back into Wii demand.

The new game features a pressure-sensing mat called the Wii Balance Board, which looks like a set of bathroom scales and can sense when a person moves and leans, enabling players to 'head' virtual footballs and experience ski jumping on a TV screen.

The board can also be used for such activities as yoga and aerobics.

Microsoft, which competes with Sony and Nintendo in the global video-game industry, sold 38,994 units of the Xbox 360 in Japan in December. Although popular in North America and Europe, the Microsoft machine has been struggling in Japan, the home market of its two major rivals.

In 2007, Nintendo sold 3.6 million units of the Wii in Japan, or three times the sales of the PlayStation 3, Enterbrain said. Sales of the Xbox 360 in Japan came to 257,841 units last year, the publisher said.

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