Shopping for gifts once again has begun as the holiday season slowly creeps up upon us. With this said it looks like Nintendo gaming consoles like the Wii and Nintendo DS have already captured the buyers fancy as the company states that these two systems grabbed top spot at hardware sales positions last month. It is claimed that for the past four years, it has acquired the very same spot on the sales charts to emerge as a great holiday gift.
According to the NPD Group which keeps a tab on the video game sales in the US, nearly 507,000 Wii systems were brought by shoppers last month which takes the lifetime sales to a soaring 22 million. October also saw a 9.5% hike in Wii sales as compared to September. The enticement responsible for such a response was due to the Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus as well as the console’s new pricing of $199.99 (approx. Rs.9,301).
Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing commented, “Nintendo’s year-to-date share of total game sales and total industry revenues are up over the same period last year. We are very appreciative of the continued, strong consumer response to both of our systems as we head into the holidays, and are excited to bring to them our key games, like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which launches this Sunday, and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which launches Dec. 7.”
Second place in the game hardware sales was bagged by the combined efforts of the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DS Lite handheld consoles. Since the launch of Nintendo DS back in 2004, the sales of the same in the US have amounted close to 34 million units. The handheld system is also set to go beyond the all-time single-year US hardware sales record achieved by the Wii amounting to over 10 million units sold.
Among the 10 best-selling games of October in the US, four titles were for Nintendo systems. Wii Fit Plus and Wii Fit Plus (with the Wii Balance Board accessory) bagged the 5th and 6th place with close to 232,000 and 209,000 units sold respectively. The 8th place was occupied by Wii Sports Resort with two Wii MotionPlus accessories with nearly 179,000 grabbed off shelves by gamers. Finally the 10th place saw the likes of Nintendo DS and DSi title Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days which sold over 169,000 copies.
Nintendo specific games such as Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart DS and Pokemon Platinum Version have all made its niche in the top 10 best-sellers throughout this current year.