A huge shipment of Nintendo’s new system, Wii, has now arrived in Europe ahead of launch on December 8th and with an unprecedented number of pre-orders having been taken, it is likely that there will be exceptional demand for the system when it goes on sale in Europe. T

Although the final figures for European launch have still not been revealed Nintendo is doing their utmost to replenish stocks and ensure that as many people as possible who want to experience Wii, can do so in time for Christmas. But the message for shoppers is clear – to play with Wii, or just to get your hands on one, you need to get moving!

“We’re launching a great product and we knew that demand would be high. Nintendo’s expansion of the gaming market is paying dividends and Wii really is the ‘must have’ item for Christmas. Obviously, we’re doing everything we can to make sure that everyone who wants one, gets one.” said Laurent Fischer, Marketing Director, Nintendo of Europe

Nintendo is shipping an exceptionally large number of consoles - 4 million globally by the end of 2006, the largest ever for a Nintendo console launch. Wii launched in the US on 19th November and sold over 600,000 consoles in just one week. That’s a rate of nearly one per second continuously since the launch date. The European and Japanese launches follow close behind – Europe on December 8th and Japan on December 2nd.

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The intuitive, motion sensitive control of Wii means that a much wider audience than traditional ‘gamers’ are interested in the console – hence the surge in demand as Nintendo continues to broaden the video games market. Across Europe this year, Nintendo has reached an installed base of 7 million with the handheld, touch-screen DS console – success which Wii aims to replicate in the home.