According to independent sales data released by the NPD Group, the Wii from Nintendo was America's best-selling video game console in the US in February, with consumers snapping up virtually every system available in North America totalling more than 335,000 units.

Only one game system sold more in February, the portable Nintendo DS, with sell-through of 485,000 units.

Together, Nintendo systems represented 54 per cent of all hardware sales in February, more than those of all other manufacturers combined.

"We're gratified that the explosive appeal of Wii, in terms of both new players and new ways to play, has created unprecedented demand, substantially beyond supply," says Reggie Fils-Aime, president, Nintendo of America. "But we also understand that there are hundreds of thousands of consumers still waiting to get their hands on the system so we continue to both ship more units to retail every week and work non-stop to build capacity."

The strength of Wii and Nintendo DS was apparent in monthly software sales where three of the top four best-selling games for the month (Wii Play and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii, and Diddy Kong Racing DS for Nintendo DS) play exclusively on Nintendo systems. In addition, so far this year 10 of the top 20 best-selling games are exclusive for Nintendo hardware.