Wii Continues to Shine as PS3 Sales Slide Further

For the fourth month in a row, the Nintendo Wii outsold its competitors, even showing impressive strength at a time that is traditionally one of the slower periods for video game sales.

Nintendo sold some 360,000 units of the $249 USD next-generation console in April, up 39 percent from the previous month and its highest monthly sales total since January, retail data from research firm NPD Group shows.

Nintendo said that it is doing all it can to keep up with demand, and continues to manufacture consoles at a rapid clip. Some of the monthly increase could be due to better supplies at retail, although no reasoning was given.

On the flip side, Sony's PlayStation 3 again showed slowing sales, falling 37 percent to only 82,000 consoles sold during the month. A lack of first-party titles and compelling new games are being blamed for the console's weakness.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was also off 13 percent for the month, selling 174,000 units, however the company said it saw evidence that the release of the HDMI-equipped Xbox 360 Elite helped to soften the typical seasonal decline.

Since January, sales have fallen only 17 percent for the Wii, while the Xbox 360 has fallen some 41 percent and the PS3 67 percent. The Wii's sales stability has allowed Nintendo to gain quickly on market leading Microsoft and pull further ahead of Sony.

Xbox 360 accounts for about 59 percent of the installed next-generation console user base, followed by 27 percent for Nintendo and 14 percent for Sony.

The best-selling games were all from Nintendo: DS titles "Pokemon Diamond" and "Pokemon Pearl" took the top spots, followed by "Super Paper Mario" and "Wii Play" for the Wii console.

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