Nintendo aims for 35 million Wii consoles by 2012

George Harrison, Nintendo's U.S. marketing chief, says Nintendo aims to sell as many as 35 million Nintendo Wii consoles in the U.S. by 2011 or 2012.

Nintendo is increasing Wii production at factories in China to meet demand, Harrison said. Tokyo-based Sony said last week it will introduce 34 new games in the next year to spur sales of its latest PlayStation 3 console, which is outsold by the Wii by about two to one.

``The 35 million target is a bit too optimistic for now as it seems the Wii is targeting light gamers, but the U.S. market has a lot of hard-core game players,'' said Etsuko Tamura, an analyst with Mizuho Investors Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``It's too early to decide whether the Wii will be the winner among game consoles.''

She has a ``neutral plus'' recommendation on Nintendo and doesn't rate Sony shares.

Nintendo's stock rose 3.2 percent to 42,100 yen at the 3 p.m. close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while Sony shares declined 0.7 percent to 7,100 yen. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.1 percent.

Bloomberg writes Nintendo has already sold 2.5 million Wii consoles since the product was launched in November 2006. The best selling console in the U.S. is the Sony PS2 with a record 38.2 million sales.