Nintendo--for years the distant third place in the console race--must be chuffed at the Wii's Australian sales figures.

The Wii is now officially Australia's fastest selling console, with sales of 32,901 Wiis in the first four days after last week's launch. It has eclipsed the Xbox 360, which sold 30,421 in its first four days after its March launch this year. And not only is the Wii the country's fastest selling home console, it's the fastest selling piece of game hardware including handheld devices.

The record of fastest-seller is a great one for Nintendo to hold, and it looks like one it may hold for a few years. The only other foreseeable game hardware launch is that of Sony's PlayStation 3--and if the scarcity of available units from the PS3's international launches are anything to go by, it's not unreasonable to think that Sony may find it hard to even ship 30,000 units locally when the console launches here in March 2007.

Of course, if you wanted to be completely pessimistic, you could say that the Wii didn't exactly smash the Xbox 360's sales records. A margin of 2000 isn't really that much, especially when you consider that the Wii is several hundreds dollars cheaper in Australia than the Xbox 360 was at launch. Plus, you could say that the Wii had the added advantage of being launched so close to the Christmas buying rush. If you wanted to be pessimistic, that is.

Bottom line, however, is that Nintendo needs to be congratulated on having such a successful launch. And the best news is that while Wiis may be sold out in some locations, anecdotal evidence is that Wiis are still available out there in Australia-land--perfect for those still wondering what to buy for their gaming needs this Christmas.