Nintendo sells more than 600,000 Wii game consoles in eight days

Nintendo has said that it had sold more than 600,000 new Wii video game consoles in just eight days in North America in a boost to its efforts to wrest back market dominance from industry leader Sony.

Sony made 400,000 of its PlayStation 3 machines available for the November 17 launch in the United States, two days before the Wii hit the shelves, and stocks of both rival consoles quickly sold out at launch.

Shipments of the $250 Nintendo Wii outpaced sales of the Xbox 360, which sold about 400,000 units during its launch week in November of last year, by more than 50% and Sony's Playstation 3, according to early estimates, by about 100%. Just like the Xbox 360 and the PS3, the Wii created a buying frenzy and sold out in a matter of minutes when it was launched on November 19. Including first-party software and accessory sales, the console has brought in revenues of about $190 million in the U.S. alone, Nintendo said.

Nintendo, which brought to the world the pudgy Italian plumber Mario, is on a quest for industry dominance again with the Wii which launches in Japan on Saturday.

At 249.99 US dollars in the US and 25,000 yen (212 US dollars) in Japan, the Wii is about half the price of the PS3.

Nintendo created a big buzz last year when it unveiled an innovative new controller for the Wii shaped like a television remote control and engineered with motion sensors and speakers.

By waving or swinging the controller, it can serve as a sword, tennis racket or car steering wheel, with a built-in speaker and rumble feature.

There is also a "Nunchuku" controller which when connected to the main controller resembles the martial arts weapon.

Nintendo has said 400,000 Wii consoles would be available on launch in Japan -- about four times the number of PlayStation 3s Sony managed to ship here.

The Wii's predecessor, the GameCube, failed to recapture the market share once enjoyed by Nintendo's earlier consoles, despite being cheaper than the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's original Xbox.