Blow by blow: Wii still dominates

It's becoming almost predictable now that every other news article in the gaming section of the popular press discusses the Wii's progress as the leading machine in the current generation.

This week is no exception, with new figures emerging from Japan to suggest that there, the Wii is outselling Sony's PS3 by more than five units to every unit sold. These are very dominant figures and coupled with the DS success, is seeing Nintendo strongly positioned globally with shares closed up 0.5 percent at 42,800 yen, Sony showing only 0.4 percent at 6,870 yen. Nintendo have also seen a roughly 400 per cent growth in the last two years, with Sony trailing that at only 75 per cent.

The worse news for Sony is that the gap appears to be growing; according to Japanese site Enterbrain, in April the gap was four Wiis to one PS3, and now in May it has risen to more than five to one.

EA have recently spoken about Europe, calling it a key territory in the console wars and that hardware sales here will decide what happens globally overall. Sony on the other hand, have tipped their machine to succeed in 2007 with a flow of games they say will push the format to the top of every gamer's must have shopping list. If they are serious about this however, we'd suggest they do something about the dropping of the cheaper 20 gb version of the machine, and the overall stinging price tag. Games alone do not a great console make, especially with the Xbox 360 already dominating a demographically similar niche in the games market to the one Sony seek to rule.

Even the Gaurdian newspaper talked this week of Bill Gates being influenced by the Wii technology, and how developers are literally scrambling to get their materials out on the Wii as soon as possible. It seems Nintendo have come from behind to shock everyone into stunned silence at the moment, but this year will be the key to who wins in this generation.