Wii, DS Crush Christmas
Britons go weak at the knees for Nintendo's systems.
Nintendo is reaching out to the mainstream with its new hardware and from early estimates, it looks like the mainstream is reaching back.
The company said on Monday that both of its new systems were big hits over the Christmas season.
The Wii has ridden into the UK on a wave of positive vibes, thanks to glowing reviews from here and abroad. The console sold 200,000 units over the Christmas period. It likely would have been even higher but Nintendo fell prey to the familiar console bugaboo of hardware shortages.
The DS was similarly constrained but not before it sold 500,000 units over Christmas. This made it not only the most popular system during the all-important closing weeks of the year but it also made it the most popular system of 2006 overall. The sleek new DS Lite sold 1.7 million units across Europe during December.
This enthusiasm spilled over to Wii and DS software too, which Nintendo said made up half of all game sales in December.
Can't find a DS Lite or a Wii? You're not alone. Nintendo has become a victim of its own success, but according to Laurent Fisher, the company is working hard to fix that.
"We are facing such high demand for both platforms that unfortunately we are facing stock shortages," Fisher said, "however we are doing everything possible to combat this by attempting to deliver both consoles and games to retailers on a daily basis."
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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