Original Wii officially ceases production in Japan

Nintendo has confirmed that it has ceased hardware production of the original Wii in the console's native Japan. The company's official website announced earlier this month that manufacturing was scheduled to end in the near future. As of today, that message has been changed to indicate that manufacturing has officially ended in Japan, not two months short of the console's seventh anniversary. In June of this year, Nintendo had announced that the console had sold 100.04 million units worldwide, outselling the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 over its lifetime and coming in as the fifth best selling console of all time. By discontinuing manufacture, Nintendo is signalling a commitment to the next-generation hardware race, doubling down on its struggling Wii U home console as well as the comparatively more popular 3DS handheld.