Global sales of Nintendo’s Wii console have passed 50 million, the company’s boss Satoru Iwata has said. The Wii is now the fastest-selling games console in history. It has overtaken the PlayStation 2. Mr Iwata also said that Nintendo’s handheld DS console had shipped 100m units around the world.

“Almost no one expected them to reach the current level of mainstream acceptance. It’s even beyond what we possibly hoped for,” Mr Iwata said.

“The market has expanded as video games have been accepted by more consumers than ever before,” the Nintendo president, told the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. “It’s a cliche but it’s not just the 18-year-old kid, it’s the mom on the train, it’s the high-school girl after she’s done with her homework, everyone plays games. ”

“The Wii and DS have made games more accessible,” Tameka Kee of PaidContent.org told BBC News