Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has suggested that “the Wii has recovered” from a slowdown in sales during 2009, although he stressed that the platform holder isn’t getting carried away with the impressive retail performance of its hardware over the holiday period.

"I think it's now safe to say the Wii has recovered from slowdown," Iwata told Reuters. "But I'm not sure if it's prudent to use words like revival and recovery lightly before making absolutely certain we can maintain this momentum. So, I steer clear of such words today."

Nintendo said yesterday that US Wii sales hit three million units in December 2009, up from 2.14 million units a year earlier.

"It's a combination of factors,” Iwata said. “Towards December, our software lineup got stronger. Also, the price cut certainly helped, although it is not the sole factor.”

US DS sales are also believed to have surpassed ten million units during 2009, breaking the previous calendar year record.

"The DS was launched back in 2004, and sales of that machine hit a record in 2009 in the United States,” Iwata said. “That is totally different from the conventional sales pattern, in which game gear sales peak in the third year and take a downturn thereafter.”