Nintendo Says 73 Percent of U.S. Gamers Use Wii and DS

Video game hardware developer and game publisher Nintendo has stated that among United States game players who are using a dedicated console, 73 percent use Nintendo products, either alone or alongside other consoles.

Among those that Nintendo has surveyed, 43% are only playing on Nintendo home consoles or handhelds and just 23 percent are gaming on the platforms created by rivals Microsoft and Sony.

The rest of those who use gaming consoles are said to employ a mix of devices for their gaming time.

Nintendo also says that for the first 5.5 years the current-generation sales of the Wii were up by 219 percent when compared to the previous hardware generation, reaching 35.5 million units, while for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 overall sales during the same period were actually down by 9%, to reach 43.3 million.

Reggie Fils-Aime, who is the president of Nintendo of America, has said, “Right now, we’re in a period where something for everyone really has yet to show in this marketplace and that’s exactly where the new console steps in.”

He recently expressed his hope that the upcoming Wii U home console might be able to broaden the circle of people who are playing game and make all game experiences easier to understand and control.

At the moment, Nintendo is facing a rather tough situation in the United States, where the Nintendo Wii is losing sales when compared to the Xbox 360 and there's little hope that the console will perform better in the coming months.

The Wii U was the big announcement of the just-ended E3 2011 trade show, but Nintendo did not say when it might launch it and for what price.

The device is set to deliver the same graphics quality as the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 and will have a whole new controller, one which incorporates a touch screen as well as normal controls.

The Wii U will be backwards compatible.