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A glut of web searches for the Nintendo Wii has made it the most desirable gadget for Christmas, surpassing the perennial iPod for the top spot. To emphasize this point, the Wii was launched in the UK last week and it sold all 50000 of the available consoles in 12 hours, making the sale rate for the Wii at 1 console sold per second.

According to a Hitwise report, UK-based searches for the Wii increased by 147%. Searches for the keyword "Nintendo Wii" also eclipsed "iPod" queries by 125%. In the UK, the Nintendo Wii is the fourth highest "volume product search term" falling behind keyword searches for "premium bonds," "car insurance" and "broadband".

Not only does the report reveal the Wii's search dominance, it also indicates that overall, searches for game consoles dropped... except for Nintendo's newest console. Searches for the keyphrases "xbox 360", "psp", "ps3" and "playstation 3" decreased while Wii searches did the exact opposite.

Amazon.co.uk, GAME and Play.com were the top retail recipients for searchers looking for the Wii. Unfortunately, Hitwise didn't have any information about the PPC aspect concerning Nintendo's awfully playable console. However, a quick glance at Overture's keyword bid tool reveals the high amount per click for the Nintendo Wii is 50 cents; a little lower than I was expecting.

So, did you get your Wii yet or are you going to wait until after Christmas?

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Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.