Wii Continues Sales Dominance in February

Nintendo's Wii outsold all other next-generation consoles in February, the NPD Group reports, further solidifying its second place market share among new consoles in the US. Meanwhile, PS3 sales continue to lag.

It was not all bad news for Sony, however. Sales of its PS2 are still strong, selling 295,000 units during the month. This was about the same as its performance in January, when it sold 299,000 consoles.

The Wii sold 335,000 units in February, a drop of 23 percent from the previous month. Xbox 360 came in second with 228,000, down 22 percent. However, the PS3 showed the biggest drop with some 127,000 consoles sold, falling some 49 percent.

Sony's obvious sales problems with the PS3 are beginning to lend credence to reports that the consoles are beginning to sit on shelves while consumers opt for the cheaper Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii.

A sales associate of an EB Games location in central Pennsylvania told BetaNews that since February, the location's stock of PS3's had either stayed the same or grown, whereas new shipments of Wiis -- few and far between - would sell out within hours.

Overall, the Xbox 360 still maintains a considerable lead in the US, with 5.1 million consoles sold, with the Wii selling 1.9 million and the PlayStation 3 1.1 million units.

Microsoft says it is satisfied with its position, and that the biggest challenge for it now is to expand the market, much like Sony has done with the wildly successful PlayStation 2.