Nintendo Passes Another Impressive Landmark

The good news for Nintendo just keeps on coming. Earlier this year, we reported that the company's Wii console fueled record sales for the video game industry; today, another impressive stat: the Wii has sold one million units in Canada, a country whose total population was last marked at just over 33 million.

Despite being late out of the gate (a couple weeks after Sony's PlayStation 3 in November, 2006 and a year behind Microsoft's Xbox 360), the Wii has completely hammered the sales of its two primary competitors. Actual figures for Nintendo's console north of the border sit around 1,060,000, nearly two-hundred thousand ahead of the Xbox 360 (870,000) and light years in front of the PS3 (520,000). (Source: arstechnica.com)

Overall, everything is fine and dandy for the video game industry north of the 49th parallel. Total Canadian game sales in July, 2008 were 54% higher than they were the same month last year. Possible reasons for that jump include greater availability of the Wii, but might also have something to do with popular releases for those other two consoles, particularly the PlayStation 3's Metal Gear Solid 4. (Source: escapistmagazine.com)

Regardless, the Great White North seems to be thoroughly obsessed with the Little White Console. Eight of the top ten games on the NPD's July charts were from Nintendo platforms (five for the Wii, another three for the DS handheld). Big seller Mario Kart Wii hit number one.

Not showing any signs of slowing down, Nintendo appears ready to take its third consecutive Christmas crown. Some might consider that a December dynasty.