Japanese Hardware: New Super Mario Bros. Wii Bolsters Wii Sales

The release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii boosted sales of Nintendo Wii hardware 128 percent week-on-week in Japan, tracking firm Media Create said Friday. For the week ended December 6, Wii sold 106,555 units, easily capturing the top spot on the hardware sales charts. The console sold 46,673 the previous week. Nintendo's side-scrolling platforming throwback is off to a strong start worldwide. According to Nintendo, the game has sold over 2 million units in the U.S. The game released on December 3 in Japan. The sales boost is what the Wii needs this holiday season. Iwata recently conceded that while Wii is the leading platform from a units-sold basis, hardware sales this year have stalled. Since Sony's PlayStation 3 reduced its price and revamped its look, the competitor has been neck-and-neck with the Wii in recent weekly sales charts, making Nintendo's situation more urgent. PS3 sales were strong enough to capture the third spot with 57,782 sold for the week, about 10,000 units behind its handheld sibling and this week's runner-up, the PSP. Sales of Nintendo's newly-released DSi LL, the previous week's leader, fell to 53,791 from 67,243 last week, landing in the fourth spot on the rankings. But combined with sales of the DSi and DS Lite, the entire DS line sold 113,793 units for the week. Below are hardware unit sales for the week ended December 6, according to Media Create: Wii: 106,555 PSP: 67,880 PS3: 57,782 DSi LL: 53,791 DSi: 51,635 DS Lite: 8,367 Xbox 360: 5,314 PSP Go: 3,412 PS2: 2,277