Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. sold 197,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S. during November, missing its goal for initial shipments by half after parts shortages slowed production, market researcher NPD Group Inc. estimated.

Nintendo Co.'s Wii, which also was introduced last month, sold 476,000 units, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said today in an e-mail. The Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360, on the market for the past year, sold 511,000 machines.

Sony had planned to make 400,000 consoles available at its Nov. 17 U.S. debut and missed that target, providing an opening for Nintendo and Microsoft. Tokyo-based Sony last week replaced PlayStation head Ken Kutaragi and is airlifting machines to the U.S. to meet demand. Wii is benefiting from positive reviews and its $250 price, half the cost of the cheapest PlayStation 3.

``There's no way that Sony will make its forecast for 1 million units in the U.S. this calendar year,'' said Evan Wilson, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, who rates Sony shares ``sector perform.'' ``They will face supply constraints at least through March.''

American depositary receipts of Tokyo-based Sony rose 16 cents to $39.90 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, fell 14 cents to $28.85 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Nintendo shares gained 270 yen to 27,300 yen in Osaka, Japan.

Nintendo, which is shipping 250,000 Wiis to the U.S. each week, also hasn't been keeping up with demand, said Anita Frazier, an analyst at NPD. ``I have no doubt that many more could have sold if there had been more inventory.''

Nintendo will meet its forecast for 2 million Wiis shipped in the U.S. in 2006, Wilson said. Nintendo, based in Kyoto, Japan, plans to ship 4 million devices worldwide by the end of the year.

Xbox Gains

Xbox 360, which made its debut in November 2005, ``rebounded nicely'' from a slow summer because of Sony's problems and the release of ``Gears of War,'' Wilson said. The title from Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft was the top- selling console game in November with 1 million units sold, according to NPD.

Microsoft said this week it may exceed its forecast to sell more than 10 million Xbox 360 machines by the end of the year.

Sony's last version, the PlayStation 2, was more popular than all three of the newer machines, selling 664,000 units.

Ryan Bowling, a spokesman for Sony, didn't have an immediate comment.

Sony is aiming to ship 2 million PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide this year.

Until inventory constraints are resolved, ``we won't really know what the true performance of the system will be,'' Frazier said.

NPD tracks sales based on data from the majority of U.S. retailers. The company doesn't receive data from some, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, and estimates to make up for the missing information.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 7, 2006 19:50 EST