Nintendo ’s just claimed it beat Sony’s 18 month sales record after tipping past 50 million games sold on or around May 19, 2008. By comparison, claims Nintendo, Sony only sold around 42 million its first 18 months.

As a comparison, in the first 18 months of their lifecycles ,the Xbox 360 had 30 million units sold, 20 million were sold for the PlayStation 3 and 28 million were sold for the original Xbox.

Making the figure even more impressive is that the figure does not include WiiSports which is bundled in every Wii console sold. The figure does however include “WiiPlay” (which comes bundled with a Wii remote) and “Link’s Crossbow Training” (which comes bundled with the Wii zapper.)

Nintendo first launched the “Wii” November 19th 2006.
It literally took the world by storm with shortages of Wii’s in the stores over the Christmas period in particular.
People were so keen to get their hands on Nintendo’s popular games console that they were paying way over the retail price. 

Why does the Nintendo Wii remain so much in demand outselling it’s main rivals like the Xbox and sony PS3?
It is, claim Nintendo, an “Experience” that can involve family and friends making it perhaps the most sociable of games consoles.
In fact one of the pubs in our local village now organise “Wii bowling tournaments” which help bring in the crowds on a quiet night. These have proved popular with young and old alike.

Luckily the “supply and demand” issues do seem to be resolved and bargains like the items listed here can be snapped up.