Nintendo says it has sold more than 600,000 of its new Wii game consoles in the first eight days since they became available in North America. As a fresh "console war" hots up, the figure tops the 200,000 or so PlayStation 3 units that rival Sony is thought to have sold in the US.

The Wii went on sale in the US and Canada on 19 November, two days after the PlayStation 3 debuted in the US. They are competing against a third console rival, Microsoft's Xbox 360. While the Wii and PlayStation 3 are only now hitting the shops, the Xbox 360 first went on sale in the US a year ago.

'Gotta-have' product

Nintendo says it will ship four million Wii units across the US and Canada by the end of the year, while Sony has a target of one million.

"Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it's clear this is one of the 'gotta-have' products for the holiday season," said Nintendo's US president Reggie Fils-Aime.

"We've shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time - and we still sold out."

At $250 (£128) in the US, the Wii is about half the price of the PlayStation 3.

UK customers will be able to get hold of the Wii console on 8 December, retailing at £179. The European launch of the PlayStation 3 will not take place until March next year, with prices yet to be released.

British scientists are developing a male contraceptive pill which can work in a single dose, it has been claimed. The pill could be taken hours before sex but allow a man's fertility to return to normal, with no-side effects, within hours, the Daily Mail reported. The new hormone-free pill is being developed at Kings College London and could be on the market within the next five years, the newspaper claimed.

It is the latest development in continuing work to develop a male pill, as well as other methods such as implants and injections for men. Earlier this year, research published in The Lancet found that men who take hormonal contraceptives see their sperm levels return to normal about three months after they stop using them. Last month, it emerged that scientists have been developing a chemical contraceptive that temporarily blocks sperm development without interfering with testosterone levels.

The results of trials on laboratory animals, published in the Nature Medicine journal, had shown the contraceptive effect is reversible, with no apparent long-term side-effects. According to the Daily Mail, the new pill contains chemicals which prevent ejaculation, without affecting the intensity of the orgasm. The pill was inspired by observations that some drugs used to treat illnesses such as high blood pressure and schizophrenia can prevent ejaculation, the paper reported. Scientists then began looking at how the drugs did this, and started creating a pill which could do the same thing, but without side-effects such as drowsiness and dizziness. The paper said that if the new contraceptive is successful, it could net large amounts of money for Kings College, which owns the rights to the discovery.

source: TheNewsVault.com

WALL, NJ, Nov 22, 2006 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- Centennial Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: CYCL) ("Centennial") today announced that it has concluded its review of strategic and operational alternatives for its Dominican Republic operations and entered into a definitive agreement to sell its wholly owned subsidiary, All America Cables and Radio, Inc. ("Centennial Dominicana"), to Trilogy International Partners for approximately $80 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close towards the end of the first calendar quarter of 2007, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions including regulatory approval for the transfer of Centennial Dominicana's telecommunications concession.