Wii confirmed as top-selling current-gen console

London (England) - A professional research firm has released information that shows the Wii has outsold the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on a global scale.

The Financial Times reports that German research company GfK has compiled worldwide sales data showing the Wii as eclipsing the PS3 and Xbox 360. It is a significant mark for the Nintendo console, as it has only been out for less than 10 months. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, on the other hand, has been around for nearly 34 months.

The group says that the Wii has sold 9 million units, just barely hopping over the Xbox 360’s 8.9 million. The PS3 is hanging in the picture with 3.7 million units sold.

All eyes are on the holiday lineup, which is solid for both the Wii and Xbox 360. However, the intended audiences for their respective release lists differ greatly. The Wii will bring powerhouses like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros Brawl, while the Xbox 360 will rake in sales with Halo 3 and Mass Effect, to name a couple.

According the Financial Times, GfK’s data is compiled from its own figures in Europe, data from its subsidiary in Japan, and numbers from the USA’s NPD Group.

Last month, a more unofficial report came from a site called VG Chartz claiming that Wii sell-through figures had passed the Xbox 360.

NPD has placed the Wii as the top-selling console in America every month this year. However, because the Xbox 360’s core audience in the United States, the Wii still trails in terms of total units sold in the US alone. Contrarily, in Japan the Wii is outselling the Xbox 360 each month by margins of as much as four-to-one.