Wii repeating huge holiday success

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- One holiday season later, Nintendo's Wii is repeating its 2006 success and still is just as hard to find, a San Francisco report said.

The Wii is a video game attracting young and old with its unusual remote control that players wave to manipulate action on the screen.

It's so in demand analysts and retailers estimate Nintendo may be losing about $1 billion in potential sales this Christmas shopping season because it's unable to keep up with demand, The New York Times said.

James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group in Santa Monica, Calif., called the second-year popularity "staggering" and figures the Kyoto, Japan, company could easily double its sales.

Between the Wii's debut 13 months ago and this Sept. 30, Nintendo sold 13.1 million consoles. It ships 1.8 million a month worldwide, one-third of those going to North America.

One reason is its wide appeal. Jim Silver, editor in chief of Toy Wishes magazine and an industry analyst for 24 years, told the Times, " I know 6-year-olds that love it and 50-year-olds that love it."

Nintendo has indeed caught the crazes of Christmases past, like Cabbage Patch dolls and Tickle Me Elmo, observers said, but in this case, it's just as popular the second time around. While other major hits have remained popular the next year they are said to be always available.