The Nintendo Wii has become the fastest selling video games console in British history after one million of the machines were sold 38 weeks after the device made its high street debut.

The Wii achieved the one million landmark in a shorter time than the Sony PlayStation 2, which, after a difficult launch in 2000, went on to become the world's most successful console so far, selling more than 115 million units worldwide.

The Wii, designed to attract "non-core" gamers, is outselling both the struggling PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 by at least two-to-one.

Last month Nintendo announced that its first-quarter net profits soared more than five-fold, further vindicating the Japanese group's declared policy of making video games for "people who don't like video games".

The company also sharply raised its full-year forecasts on soaring sales of the Wii and the continued success of its DS handheld machine.

Nintendo posted net earnings of ¥80.25 billion (£326 million) in the three months to June, traditionally a quiet quarter for video games sales, up from ¥15.55 billion a year earlier. Revenue was up 160 per cent to ¥340.44 billion as the company sold 3.4 million Wii consoles and 7 million DS machines worldwide over the three months. The Wii has now sold more than 9 million units worldwide since its launch last autumn.

Nintendo added that it now plans to ship 16.5 million Wii consoles by March 31 2008, up from 14 million previously. Targets for shipments of Wii software were lifted to 72 million units, from 55 million. DS shipments were lifted to 26 million, from 22 million.

At the E3 conference, the annual gathering for the computer games industry, in Santa Monica earlier this month, Nintendo extended its strategy of targeting consumers formerly considered unlikely to play video games when it unveiled Wii Fit, a new game for the Wii console.

In what is becoming a signature Nintendo move, the title will come with a new controller. The Balance Board is a pressure-sensitive mat-like device that is used to regulate physical work-outs, tells users if they are overweight and will even scold users who slouch.

The promotional video aired at the E3 lunch event featured a young woman using it to take her through a yoga routine — a target market worlds away from the teenage boys who have driven the games industry's past cycles .

For Nintendo games, the company claims, the ratio of men to women buyers has fallen to two to one from an industry average of four to one.

There have also been signs that Nintendo's strategy has made other games groups rethink their strategy. On the eve of the E3 conference, John Riccitiello, the head of Electronic Arts, the largest games publisher, conceded that a barrage of sequels, shoot-em-ups and driving games was "boring people to death".

He went on to suggest that the economics of producing complex titles for technologically-heavy consoles such as the PS3 are not stacking up. A PS3 game costs up to an estimated $20 million, four times that of a Wii equivalent. EA's profits slumped 70 per cent last year, their third successive decline.

Nintendo now expects a 40.6 per cent rise in net profit to 245 billion yen for the 12 months to March, up from a previous forecast for 175 billion yen. Revenue is seen climbing 44.8 percent to 1.4 trillion yen.

Nintendo shares closed up 1,900 yen or 3.5 per cent at 56,400 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The company recently broke out figures showing that sales of games hardware and software are up more than 40 per cent in the UK so far this year compared with the same period in 2006, and have surged more than 110 per cent in Japan. Nintendo, it is estimated, accounts for two thirds of the growth.

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