Nintendo Extends the Wii's Lead, Sells 338,000 Units (Update2)

June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. extended the lead of its Wii video-game console over Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, selling more than 338,000 machines in the U.S. in May.

Sony sold 81,600 PlayStation 3 consoles and Microsoft sold 154,900 Xbox 360s, according to data compiled by NPD Group Inc., a research firm in Port Washington, New York. Nintendo's Wii has outsold the competition since it was released in November.

Sales of game consoles grew 79 percent to $221.4 million from the year-earlier period, while console software rose 31 percent to $274 million, NPD said. Nintendo had the most popular console game with ``Mario Party 8.'' Sony's new machine continued to struggle in software sales, failing to place a single game in the top 10.

Sony's older PlayStation 2 outsold both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, with sales of 187,800 machines.

Activision Inc.'s ``Spiderman 3'' for the Sony's PlayStation 2 was the second-ranked console game, while Nintendo's ``Wii Play,'' which comes with a remote control, was third, NPD said. The top game for Microsoft's Xbox was ``Forza Motorsport 2,'' in fourth place.

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

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Cesca Antonelli at fantonelli@bloomberg.net