• The New York Times, Friday, December 14, 2007 12 PM

With the Wii, Nintendo has created a phenomenon that recalls crazes of Christmases past: Cabbage Patch dolls, Furby, Tickle Me Elmo. But in this case it is happening for a second consecutive holiday season.

Estimates from industry analysts and retailers indicate that the company, which is based in Kyoto, Japan, is giving up $1 billion or more in sales in the holiday retail season, not including sales of games for those unbuilt consoles. Nintendo sold 981,000 Wiis in the United States in November, its best month yet, while Microsoft sold 770,000 Xbox 360s, and Sony sold 466,000 PlayStation 3 consoles, the market research firm NPD Group said yesterday.

George Harrison, senior vice president for marketing at Nintendo of America, says there is a shortage because the company must plan its production schedule five months ahead, and projecting future demand is difficult. He adds that there had been a worldwide shortage of disk drives that had hurt Nintendo as well as makers of many other devices.

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