Americans Pick Wii Over Xbox 360, PS3

But the DS is still the best selling hardware overall.

The relatively underpowered Wii stayed ahead of both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 in March despite widespread Wii shortages that Nintendo warned could persist for some time.

Americans bought 259,000 Wiis versus 199,000 sales for the Xbox 360 and just 130,000 for the PlayStation 3, according to numbers from research firm NPD Group.

All three new consoles are lagging behind the DS and the PlayStation 2, which continue to power ahead in the US. Nintendo sold more than half a million DSs in March. April could be better still for the portable as the core Pokémon series makes its formal debut soon.

The PlayStation 2 was the best selling home console in March, and Sony's God of War II, with 833,000 copies sold, was the most popular game. Next was Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter II - the first of four Xbox 360 games in the Top 10.

Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime said the numbers for Wii and DS showed that, "innovation is compelling both current gamers and new gamers to experience a new way to play."

Sony, meanwhile, said it wasn't able to keep stores stock because consoles were shipped to Europe for the launch in March.

"...We continued to find ourselves supply constrained in March due primarily to the shift in manufacturing focus to the PS3 PAL version to support the launch of the system in Europe," the company said in a statement.

Hardware

1. DS - 508,000
2. PlayStation 2 - 280,000
3. Wii - 259,000
4. Xbox 360 - 199,000
5. PSP - 180,000
6. Game Boy Advance - 148,000
7. PlayStation 3 - 130,000
8. GameCube - 22,000

Software

1. God of War II (PS2) - 833,000
2. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter II (360) - 394,000
3. Guitar Hero II with guitar (360) - 291,000
4. Wii Play with remote (Wii) - 273,000
5. MotorStorm (PS3) - 199,000
6. Diddy Kong Racing (DS) - 189,000
7. Spectrobes (DS) - 165,000
8. Major League Baseball 2K7 (360) - 165,000
9. MLB '07: The Show (PS2) - 164,000
10. Def Jam Icon (360) - 148,000

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo