By Patrick Avenell
MELBOURNE: Nintendo has released figures today that show its Wii model is the fastest selling gaming console in Australian history. To harness the publicity from this release, Nintendo has announced the release of new titles for its Wii and DS consoles.
Based on number of weeks to reach 500,000 units sold, Nintendo cite GfK figures showing the Wii crossed this mark in its 84th week of sale – the fastest since this data started to be recorded in 2000. The previous record was held jointly by the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS, which both crossed the 500,000 threshold in their 107th week of sale.
GfK has also confirmed that neither of the Wii’s two closest competitors, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 (PS3), have reached this milestone. This is especially telling for the Xbox 360, which was released almost nine months – 36 weeks to be exact – before the Wii. For the PS3 to take this record off the Wii, it would have to sell 500,000 units before 25 October 2008. Unfortunately, the current sales figure for the PS3 is unavailable.
In order to maintain this market domination, Wii has announced the release of new titles for its Wii and DS consoles. These include:
–Trauma Center: Second Opinion (sic), which is an updated version of the DS game for the Wii. Available 28 August 2008.
–Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, which is a Wii game featuring stunning, cartoon-like graphics and animation. Available on 25 September 2008.
–Etrian Odyssey, a mapping and adventure game for DS. Available 14 August 2008.
–Make 10: A Journey of Numbers, which Nintendo claims makes maths fun everyone. Available 4 September 2008.
–Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir, a seek-and-solve detective story game. Available October 2008.
For information on Logitech’s new range of gaming peripherals for Wii, DS, PlayStation 3 and PSP, click here.