Wii was best selling European home console in December

Think the Wii is dead in the market? Think again.

Data from Nintendo’s latest investor presentation reveals that Nintendo’s innovative home machine was the best selling hardware in Europe in December 2011.

It wasn’t able to replicate the huge lead it enjoyed over rivals PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010, but despite trailing for most of the year Wii overtook both its rivals in Week 48 2011 – a lead it maintained until the last week of the year.

The story was somewhat different in the US, where Xbox 360 was the clear leader throughout the year, leaving Wii and PS3 to battle it out for second place.

In Japan the situation is somewhat different again, with Sony’s PS3 bossing the home console market in 2011. Last year Wii was able to surge into a commanding lead from Week 48 onwards – a feat it couldn’t replicate in 2011, though it did enjoy a sales advantage in Week 51.

There were also some interesting stats regarding 3DS uptake across the globe.

In the Japanese market the 3DS tracked behind a host of rivals (DS, Game Boy Advance, Wii, PS2) for its first 43 weeks. However, what we then see is a sudden upturn in fortunes, at which point its sales rate overtakes any other console in Japanese history.

The pattern is replicated almost exactly in the US, though in Europe the uptake has been slower and approximately in-line with the DS.