Iwata: Wii can outsell PS2

President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata has predicted that sales of Wii could end up eclipsing those of PlayStation 2.

Iwata said that the wide appeal of the console gave it a chance to catch PS2 – which has shipped over 120 million units to date.

"Sony’s PS2 sales of 100 million units is an extraordinary number that our home game console business has not achieved," Iwata told Reuters.

"But if we can make our bid to expand the gaming population a continued success, we could exceed that.”

Nintendo has already enjoyed a flying start to 2007, with ChartTrack’s half-year report showing that the firm has already taken over 50 per cent of all console sales so far this year.