Wii U week one sales: 400,000 units sold

The US sales figures for the new Nintendo console show strong early support from consumers.

While Australians have to wait until midnight this Thursday to get their hands on the Wii U, sales figures from its first week on shelves in the US bode well for the console.

The Wii U sold 400,000 units, which Nintendo said was mainly capped by its ability to get hardware on shelves.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told our CNET colleagues in the US :

Wii U is essentially sold out of retail, and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock. Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately.

When the original Wii launched back in 2006, it sold 600,000 units in its first eight days, putting the Wii U in second place for Nintendo. But to add some perspective, the Xbox 360 sold 326,000 units in its first two weeks, and the PS3 just 197,000 in the first fortnight it was available. (All figures are for the US.)

However, Nintendo's numbers do show one interesting fact: the six-year-old Wii still managed to sell 300,000 units in the same week that the Wii U went on sale. Hopefully, Nintendo wasn't competing with its own, older product.