More Wii channels to be announced

I have learned that there are more Wii channels on the way, other than the ones already announced. As it stands, there are nine in total if you count them all: Disc, Mii, Photo, Forecast, News, Shop, Virtual Console, the Internet Channel and the Message Board.

The new channels, presumably, is where the elusive secrets are to be found that Perrin Kaplan hinted at.

Wii sells 600.000 units in eight days

Wii has sold 600.000 units in the eight days since its North American launch on November 19th. The total volume of hardware, first party software and accessories is billed at 190 million US Dollars, Nintendo of America (registration required) announced. They quote their president Reggie Fils-Aime as saying:

Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it's clear this is one of the ‘gotta-have' products for the holiday season. We've shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time - and we still sold out. Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we're seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike. It continues to be a phenomenal launch.

´Zelda: Twilight Princess sold more than 454.000 copies, meaning that a phenomenal 75 percent of all Wii buyers also purchased this game.

EDIT Meanwhile, the Taiwanese DigiTimes reports about a number defects with PS3 units. The cited problems are quite vague, though, and most are already known:

Problems related to overheating and inability to start the machine were reported since the PS3 launched in mid-November. Reports have circulated recently in the US retail market saying that when used with older high-definition (HD) TVs that support only a 1080i resolution, the PS3 displays 720p resolution games at only 480p. Sources at Sony said this problem could be caused by a firmware problem and that the company will resolve the problem as soon as possible.

In Taiwan, some users were complaining that the new game console is not compatible with some PS2 game titles and that the machine would shut down when it overheated, said the sources. After consulting with Taiwan's Consumer Protection Commission and distributors, the Taipei branch of Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong (SCEH) agreed to replace consoles found to have serious defects.

Source: Nintendo press server (registration required)
Thanks to: Joystiq, Game Daily

Wii sells twice as many units as PS3 on eBay

The online auction house eBay has sold almost 15.000 PS3 consoles and a little over 26.000 Wii units so far, Reuters reports via Yahoo:

Popular items on eBay included Sony's PlayStation 3 -- 14,675 have been sold on eBay for an average price of $1,186.39 from November 17 to November 24 -- and the Nintendo Wii. Since that product debuted on November 19, 26,708 have been sold for an average price of $412.53.

Albeit limited to resellers on this particular platform, these are the first official sales figures released concerning the two contenders in the next-generation console war.



Of course, there were many more Wii consoles available than PS3s. But it should still come as something of a surprise that more Wiis were sold on eBay, since most PS3 buyers so far seemed to have been resellers while people in the Wii queues appeared to want the console for themselves.

Also, consider that the PS3 figures show sales over eight days, while the Wii figures only include six days of sales.

EDIT Just for reference (and also to brag just a tiny little bit), this story has now been covered by GoNintendo and Codename Revolution. Thanks to Kevin and Fahid for linking me.

Source: Yahoo