Today Nintendo of America announced that it has taken a leadership position in the video games industry, around the world and around the world. Hardware and software sales in 2003 made significant leaps over 2002, and Nintendo's success bumped Microsoft's Xbox to the No. 3 position in the 2003 console wars.

Global holiday sales for Nintendo GameCube in 2003 outpaced 2002 by a whopping 70 percent, and Nintendo anticipates it will meet its global sales target of 6 million Nintendo GameCube systems this fiscal year.

Nintendo estimates for 2003, Nintendo GameCube U.S. hardware sales increased by more than 35 percent over 2002; Sony's PlayStation 2 dropped by about 25 percent and Xbox showed no relevant market growth. In December alone, Nintendo GameCube hardware sales soared 69 percent over December 2002, compared to a drop of about 30 percent for PlayStation 2. Again, Xbox showed little change.

U.S. sales got a boost from a Sept. 25 price drop, which brought Nintendo GameCube down to $99.99. Now Nintendo GameCube has nearly 6.8 million units sold in the U.S. since its 2001 launch, of which 3.17 million were sold throughout 2003. And to top it all off Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has become the fastest-selling Nintendo GameCube game in the United States, selling more than 1 million units in just seven weeks.

In all very good news for Nintendo! Hopefully Nintendo of Europe will also release some numbers for the European market soon. Bring on the winning numbers, I'd say!