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The first battle results

So, the official word is that Nintendo sold 600,000 units in its first week. I’ve not heard any official numbers from Sony yet.

Crazy thing is, Nintendo projected 4 million consoles by the end of the year – and I’m thinking, they’ll sell that many, (and more!), given that they haven’t even launched in Japan, (and Australia, and Eurpoe…). And in Japan, with the ongoing DS Lite shortage, I can only imagine the insanity the Wii will cause.

There are even signs up to buy your used Wii at 1,000 yen above retail! For an item that hasn’t even launched in your country, that’s a pretty big indicator of how hot your item is. (From Senaka Blog via Kotaku)

The game review portion of the gift guide is supposed to be out in two weeks! We’ll rate a splattering of games across consoles and desktop, and we’ll pop online anything we felt got left out of print. Then we’ll keep at it over the season. All for you! Yes, our kind hearts gave in to your cries for video game reviews, so we hold our PS3’s and Wii’s tight and give them all the love they need.

Here’s the entire press release:

Wii IS A MASSIVE HIT

600,000 First-Week Purchases Attracting Veteran and New Gamers

VANCOUVER, B.C. (November 28, 2006) – Built on a foundation of pure fun, Nintendo’s new Wii™ video game system sold through to more than 600,000 consumers in the Americas in just its first eight days of availability. That’s a rate of nearly one per second continuously since the Nov. 19 launch. Including just first-party software and accessory sales, Wii instantly has become a USD $190 million business in the Americas.

There has been plenty of conversation everywhere about the high demand for the Wii system, with the acknowledgment that if you see one, you’d better buy it.

“Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it’s clear this is one of the ‘gotta-have’ products for the holiday season,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We’ve shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time – and we still sold out. Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we’re seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike. It continues to be a phenomenal launch.”

The system also is succeeding in its stated mission of reinvigorating current players, while attracting new ones. Every Wii system includes the five-game Wii Sports™ software, which is the talk of the Internet, featuring countless reports on how previously devout non-gamers have suddenly been converted via the amazing new way games are experienced using the system’s remarkable controller. At the same time, the masterful The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess, a favorite of avid gamers, already has achieved sales of more than 454,000 units in the Americas, representing more than 75 per cent of all hardware purchasers.

Licensees, pleased not only with the sales performance of the Wii, but also its creative development capabilities, are publicly sharing their comments:

“Madden NFL 07 is a great example of how the Wii gives players a whole new experience on their favorite games,” says EA Studio President Paul Lee. “EA’s creative teams are working to build more Wii features into some of our most popular franchises.”

“The creativity we’ve been able to unleash on the Wii system with our game Red Steel has been eye-opening for our development teams,” explains Ubisoft President Laurent Detoc. “Having the opportunity to design and develop entirely new game-play experiences using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk is both exciting and rewarding.”

Classic games are also proving to be a hit on Wii, which offers downloadable access to 20 years of the best of Nintendo®, Sega Genesis® and TurboGrafx16™ hits via the system’s Virtual Console™ feature.

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