Wii sales propel Call of Duty: World at War past COD4

Chew on this: Call of Duty: World at War had greater combined US sales on current-gen consoles in its first three months of release than did Call of Duty 4. World at War achieved this milestone despite COD4 outselling it by nearly 400,000 Xbox 360 units during the comparable months. A rise in PS3 sales from COD4 to World at War -- just over 130,000 units -- helped to slightly offset this difference, but the introduction of a Wii version of World at War (COD4 had no such entry) tipped the scales in favor of the latest Call of Duty entry. In December alone, the Wii World at War (pictured) sold more than 366,000 units.

This trend spotting is a result of analyst Matt Matthews' work (published on Gamasutra) and seems to indicate that Wii is a profitable platform for third-party publishers; at least, for Activision, which had two multiplatform titles with Wii versions in the January NPD Top 10. As for our Xbox 360 and PS3 sales assumptions, uh, analysis? Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead definitely hindered World at War sales on Xbox 360 from November through January, while on PS3, there simply wasn't a strong resistance to choosing World at War as the holiday's go-to shooter. Will Modern Warfare 2 follow suit? We expect a surge in both PS3 and Xbox 360 enlisters -- but we're not sold on the concept of modern warfare on Wii ... and neither is Infinity Ward, we imagine.