I’ll admit that back when I was trying to figure out which console to purchase, the Wii hardly crossed my mind. My major internal debate was whether I wanted to stick with the Playstation brand, which I had been loyal to ever since the PS1 days, or jump ship and try out the Xbox 360 due to its head start and established roster of great games. The Wii seemed like a novelty to me, an underpowered console that would flop like the Gamecube and potentially signal Nintendo’s exit from hardware production.

Boy was I wrong.

According to the latest NPD sales numbers, the Nintendo Wii now sits at 10.2 million units sold, just a baby step behind Microsoft’s 10.27 million units. Barring a sudden rush to the Xbox or massive failure by Nintendo, it’s likely the Wii will overtake first place in sales within the next couple months. This is bad news for Microsoft, especially due to the fact that sales are already sagging (they only moved 186,600 units in May) and the PlayStation 3 seems to be gaining momentum by the day. While Microsoft was counting on GTA IV to boost console sales, that hope simply didn’t come to light, and now the company faces a Halo and GTA-less future.

For Nintendo’s part, they are about to reclaim the territory they once ruled with an iron fist, and don’t look for them to relinquish it anytime soon. The runaway success of both the Wii and the DS provide the company with all the income and security they need, and it’s now just a matter of time until we start printing money with Miyamoto’s face on it. Also, Nintendo has promised some big announcements at E3, so if any of the company’s top franchises are about to get another installment, then you can expect figures to continue to go through the roof.