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It must be disconcerting to Microsoft to know that Nintendo has sold about 10% as many Wii games consoles in just 8 days in one country as Xbox 360 has sold all over the world in the past year. Naturally, Nintendo is crowing like the proverbial rooster at dawn.

Nintendo, without the production problems that have plagued Sony, has already shipped three or four times as many Wii consoles into the US as the PlayStation 3, which is also selling out as soon as it touches store shelves.

Needless to say, Nintendo is making great marketing capital of the fact that it is shipping more and therefore selling more than PS3. However, no-one expected anything more or less of either new console that has hit the market in the past two weeks. There is a long way to go on the console wars.

The true test will come in the months ahead when the fuss dies down and supplies meet the demand. For PS3, however, by the time demand in the US and Japan starts to become satisfied, March 2007 will see a second wave of frenzied consumers in Europe and elsewhere trying to get hold of a new console.

The long delay in the launch of PS3 outside the US will raise some interesting questions concerning pricing. Most likely by March 2007, Sony will have slashed the price of PS3 considerably in both the US and Japan. Seeing this, will Europeans still be prepared to pay top dollar, while across the Atlantic consoles are going at possibly half price.