Nintendo sets lifetime Wii sales of 35 million in NA

Redmond (WA) - Nintendo hopes to sell 35 million Wii consoles in North America, and says it can achieve the goal by 2011.

That’s close to Sony’s dominating 38.2 million PS2 units in the last console cycle. "Demand is much greater than we anticipated. A year ago no one thought we would be in this position," said senior marketing VP of Nintendo George Harrison.

The gaming system is still impossible to find in stores, as new stock continues to be sold at rapid fire pace.

Nintendo has taken the top spot in next-gen console sales every month so far this year, edging out the Xbox 360 and usually taking more than double the unit sales of the Playstation 3.

"We’re starting to see in the performance of the PS3 and Xbox 360 that that’s not necessarily motivating the market the way it used to. So we’re going to start work on future technology only when we believe it’s necessary," said Harrison.