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Nintendo shifts 800,000 Thanksgiving Wiis

Company reveals that year-on-year sales more than doubled on Holiday weekend

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed that the company sold around 800,000 Wii consoles in the US over the Thanksgiving weekend - more than double the 350,000 number from last year.

That number is sure to keep the Wii at the top of the hardware sales chart, even though many stores are now reporting that they are out of stock, with the notable exception of Wal-Mart's online store.

Iwata explained the console's sales performance as an indicator that the Wii was top of the gift list for shoppers.

"When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wish list," he said in an interview with Reuters. "But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list - Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list."

Meanwhile Iwata added that sales of the DS were also up on last year, by around 20 per cent.