At a press conference in Tokyo, Nintendo has confirmed that a new service called 'Wii Ware' will allow gamers to download full game titles before they appear in stores. The new service, which will undoubtedly encourage even more people to pick up a Wii, will begin in March and Nintendo say they will be able to reduce the prices of games as a result.

Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata also announced that there had been 7.8 million downloads on Wii's Virtual console and that the company were looking into easier ways for users to connect to the internet.

According to Bloomberg, "Nintendo projected it will sell 16.5 million Wii consoles and 72 million software titles in the year ending March 31, 2008, compared with Sony's shipment forecast for 11 million PlayStation 3s."

Following the news of Nintendo's new service, shares in the company rose on the Japanese stock market by 4.9 percent.

Nintendo have said that the heavy demand for Wii's this Christmas will lead to stock shortages across the Globe.

Source :: Bloomberg