But, Sony Corp. said the two do not belong in the same category.

    "Wii could be considered an impulse buy more that anything else," said Dave Karraker, a spokesman for Sony Computer entertainment of America, "but we believe the PS3 will be the console to attract hardcore, committed gamers, while Wii will do little beyond satisfying new and casual players."

    However, Perrin Kaplan of Nintendo claimed that the Wii has turned video game market "all upside down," and dismissed Sony's suggestion that Wii only appears to be in high demand because of fewer shipments.

    Nintendo recently announced that its Wii game console, which uses an innovative wireless controller to translate the players' motions onto the screen, has upset the order of the video game world.

    In electronics stores and elsewhere, there are growing signs that the Wii has taken the lead in buzz and sales over  PlayStation 3.

    Nintendo's Wii and the Sony's PlayStation 3 were both released in November 2006, and are competing with the Microsoft Xbox 360, also a more powerful game machine. It is a battle with immense stakes, given that the video game industry generated more than 12 billion U.S. dollars in sales last year.

    (Agencies)