Nintendo Wii scores sixth consecutive win over rivals

Continuing its winning-streak, the Japanese gaming console maker Nintendo once again attained the top position in the latest sales charts after smashing its arch-rivals Microsoft and Sony in the US video game consoles market.

Among the trio of next generation gaming consoles, Kyoto, western Japan-based Nintendo emerged as the numero uno in June for the fifth consecutive month after selling 381,800 units of the popular Wii video game devices in the United States, outshining both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game consoles.

According to the latest market data provided by market research firm NPD, last month, US gamers mostly fetched Nintendo Wii video games console, which helped it easily soar past Xbox 360 in sales and open a huge lead over the PS3.

As per NPD Group’s research data, Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 198,400 units, while Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 98,500 units, lagging behind in the fierce battle for dominance in the booming gaming consoles market.

In the hand-held category, sales of the Nintendo DS hit 561,900 in June, ahead of Sony's PlayStation Portable, or PSP, with 290,100. Nintendo DS is a portable game player that is still selling briskly more than two years after its introduction. Nintendo has shipped 36 million DS units world-wide compared with Sony's 25 million PSPs.

Sony's 7-year-old game console PlayStation 2, last month, sold 270,700 units.

"It's just further evidence that both our platforms, the Wii and DS (handheld), are certainly capturing a wide audience. We are delivering on our message of reaching out to new gamers," said Nintendo spokeswoman Beth Llewellyn.

Nintendo’s innovative gaming unit also boasted six of the top 10 best selling game titles. It had six games in June’s top 10 games: four for the Wii and two for its DS handheld. The rank wise four titles are: "Mario Party 8", at No. 1, "Wii Play with remote", at No. 2, " Pokémon Diamond", at No. 3, " Pokémon Pearl", at No. 4, “Pokémon Battle”, at No. 8 and “Resident Evil 4 “, at No. 9.

For Xbox 360, Microsoft had three games, “Forza Motorsport 2”, at No. 5, “Guitar Hero 2 with Guitar”, at No. 7 and “The Darkness”, at No. 10.

Sony’s PlayStation 2 hit only one title, “Guitar Hero 2 with Guitar”, at No. 6.

Nintendo’s soaring sales raised the six-month total for the console to 2.1 million, while the figure is 1.2 million for the Xbox 360 players in the quarter, and 760,000 for Sony’s PlayStation 3 units, NPD said.

Launched in November last year, Nintendo’s Wii console retails for $US250, while PS2 costs only $129. The PS3 and Xbox 360 start at $499 and $299, respectively, while their high-end versions are priced at $US599 and $US399 (Xbox 360 Premium System) and $US479 (Xbox 360 Elite System), respectively.

Nintendo, which has just entered the top ten slot of Japan's most valuable companies after beating its arch rival Sony in market value, last month attributed its sales growth to the surging demand for its DS handheld game players and the popular Wii video game devices.