Wii U first-week sales fall short of Wii

Nintendo sold 425,000 Wii U consoles during the system's first week in the United States last month, according to data provided by research firm NPD. This is some 50,000 consoles short of the original Wii's first-week sales tally of 475,000 units in 2006.

Though sales of the Wii U are lower than the Wii during their respective launch weeks, NPD data suggests the new system has generated more total revenue.

"The much anticipated launch of the new Wii U console brought in more dollars than the Wii launch in November 2006, up 21 percent from that launch month," analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. "With an average price 35 percent higher for the Wii U at launch compared to the Wii, this is an example of how consumers are willing to come out and spend when they see the value of the product."

As for software, more than 243,000 copies of New Super Mario Bros. U were sold in November, with nearly 60 percent of all Wii U hardware purchasers also picking up a copy of the game. Notably, New Super Mario Bros. U did not crack the top 10 best-selling games of November chart.

The 3DS sold 540,000 units during November, bringing its life-to-date US total to nearly 6.5 million. Further, Mario Kart 7 became the second 3DS title to cross 2 million units sold in the region. It was not announced which game was the first, though Super Mario 3D Land has sold nearly 6 million units worldwide, making it a likely candidate.

As for the aging original Wii, that system sold 420,000 units during the month, bringing its total US sales figure to over 40 million. The original Nintendo DS sold 370,000 systems in November, with Nintendo expecting the hardware line to cross 53 million life-to-date unit sales in the "next few days."

In total, thanks to a sales jolt from Black Friday and the arrival of the Wii U, Nintendo sold in excess of 1.75 million hardware units in November.