Wii leads current hardware generation

Cumulative sales of Nintendo's Wii have now surpassed sales of the Xbox 360, making it the best-selling console of the current hardware generation.

According to a Financial Times report, consumers have purchased 9 million Wii consoles, 8.9 million Xbox 360 consoles, and 3.7 million PlayStation 3 consoles.

Wii sales have now overtaken those of the Xbox 360 despite the fact that Microsoft's machine was launched a year earlier.

"The fact of the matter is that, despite the Xboxâs earlier launch in November 2005, it only sells in two markets — Europe and the US," said one analyst in Tokyo. "Japan is home turf to Sony and Nintendo, so the Xbox is not a player at all. In contrast, Nintendo has been selling well in all three major markets."

Nintendo hasn't been in the top-selling hardware position since it launched the Super Nintendo Entertainment System worldwide between 1990 and 1993. Sony has dominated the hardware market ever since the first PlayStation was released in 1994 (Japan) and 1995 (North America and Europe).

In July, Nintendo surpassed Sony in market capitalisation for the first time.