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Nintendo Wii game console increases sales lead on PS3

Nintendo Co's Wii console extended a sales lead over Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 in Japan for a fourth month last month, helped by the latest Resident Evil role-playing game.

Nintendo, the world's third-biggest maker of video-game players, sold 270,974 Wii consoles last month, more than six times the 41,628 PlayStation 3 machines sold, Tokyo-based researcher Enterbrain Inc said in a statement yesterday.

Microsoft Corp sold 17,616 Xbox 360 players last month, Enterbrain said.

A motion-sensitive controller used with the Wii that allows players to aim a shotgun or swing a tennis racquet onscreen has helped Kyoto-based Nintendo sell 2.76 million units since its Dec. 2 Japan introduction.

wii ahead

This was almost three times more than the 970,270 PlayStation 3 units sold since the Nov. 11 debut in Japan, Enterbrain figures showed.

"Nintendo can make and sell games that use the most of the Wii system," said Koki Shiraishi, a Tokyo-based analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd who rates Nintendo an "outperform."

"I expect the PlayStation 3 to be in a difficult situation until at least the Christmas season," Shiraishi said.

Shares of Nintendo rose 1.4 percent to ¥45,750 (US$389.40) on the Osaka Securities Exchange. The stock climbed 48 percent this year, outpacing Sony's 24 percent.

winning titles

Wii sales were boosted by titles including Wii Sports and Biohazard 4 -- better known as the Resident Evil series in the US.

The two games were included in the top 10 best-selling games in Japan last month, Enterbrain said.

The Wii has widened its sales lead over the PlayStation 3 since March, Enterbrain figures showed.

In May, the Wii outsold the PlayStation 3 by more than five to one, and four to one in April, Enterbrain said. The PlayStation 3 retails for at least ?50,000 in Japan, double the price of the Wii.

US sales of the Wii totaled 338,000 units in May, compared with 81,600 PlayStation 3 units, data compiled by Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group Inc showed. Microsoft sold 154,900 of its Xbox 360 machines.

The US is the world's largest videogame market.
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