The Associated Press posted a press release about Wii’s $50 million dollar sales record – worldwide!

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese game maker Nintendo Co. said Thursday global sales of its popular Wii video game console have topped 50 million since it went on sale worldwide in late 2006.

Nearly 50 percent of the total sales of the Wii machine were in the United States and Canada, with Europe accounting for about 40 percent and Japan taking much of the rest, said the maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games.

The Wii hit stores first in the United States in November 2006, and went on sale in Japan and Europe in early December of the same year.

The Wii game console has quickly become a smash hit, in large part due to its unique wireless controller. The wand-like controller is equipped with motion sensors that allow users to control game action by jabbing and swinging it through the air. Wii games, including “Wii Fit,” “Wii Play,” and “Mario Kart Wii,” have all become global best sellers.

Apart from the Wii console, Nintendo has sold more than 100 million Nintendo DS portable handheld game machines worldwide in just four years and 3 months — a milestone reached at the quickest pace for any video game console.

Compared to Sony, which has long appealed to hard-core gamers with its PlayStation series, Nintendo has scored hits with easier-to-play games that attract newcomers to gaming, including the elderly.

Nintendo’s DS comes with a touch panel, making it possible to play some games without dealing with complex button-pushing.

It looks like Mario Kart Wii and Grand Theft Auto IV rocked the markets in May, according to an article from the folks over at Game Daily.  Mario Kart Wii took second place in May for sales, with a total 787,400 units sold, and Wii Fit right behind it, selling 687,700 units in May.

From the article from Game Daily:

Overall, year-to-date industry sales have now reached $6.58 billion, up 32 percent from last year. NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted that this exceeds total 1997 annual revenues, which shows just how far the industry has come in the last 10 years. “The industry is on pace to achieve revenues in the $21-$23B range for 2008,” she said.

Unsurprisingly, the late April release of GTA IV easily carried its momentum into May, as the title racked up another 871.3K in unit sales on Xbox 360 and 442.9K unit sales on PS3. Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii once again took second place with 787.4K unit sales, followed by the fitness sensation Wii Fit, which sold 687.7K units. It’s worth noting that GTA IV has now generated combined sales of 4.2 million units in the U.S., which has already made it the top selling game of 2008 so far.

Also, the Nintendo line is holding its own against industry competitors Playstation and XBox:

Interestingly, although a number of analysts thought we might finally see the “GTA IV hardware bump” in May, that wasn’t really the case. PS3 sold 208.7K units while Xbox 360 sold just 186.6K units. The Wii easily took top honors again with 675.1K units. The DS put up another 452.6K unit sales, while the PSP sold 182.3K units (down about 10K). This is now the 4th consecutive month that the Wii and NDS have captured the top two spots.

We Love Wii!  Apparently so do a whole bunch of other folks.  Keep it up, Nintendo!