US Wii sales beat 1.2m estimate - analyst

The Nintendo Wii has likely sold over 1.2 million units in the US, beating previous estimates by analyst Lazard Capital.

Sony's rival PlayStation 3 will have sold around 700,000 units in 2006, while the company predicts that Microsoft's Xbox 360 will have reached 4.5 million consoles in North America, by December 30th.

"Our checks indicate that Nintendo's Wii console continues to sell well, while Sony's PS3 supplies improved somewhat towards the end of the holiday period," said Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital.

The firm also said it expects that US software sales will have increased by five per cent in December, compared to last year, "driven by incremental sales for next-generation software and ongoing solid PS2 and DS game sales."

The analyst also offered a list of best-selling titles, including four of GameStop's top five sellers for Christmas - Guitar Hero 2, WWE Smackdown Vs RAW 2007, Gears of War and Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess.

Finally, Sebastian predicted three publisher's performance in December, expecting THQ to see sales up by 20 per cent, EA to suffer a dip of 10 per cent and Activision's results to remain equal to the 2005 period.