Talk about getting ahead of yourself, Nintendo.  After dropping the ball with the development of its Nintendo 64 and GameCube consoles, the Japanese company is now predicting it will sell 35 million Wiis in the United States alone by 2012.  That will take some serious leap-frogging of Microsoft’s established Xbox 360, as well as continued miserable performance from Sony’s powerful PlayStation 3.  It might also be a little ridiculous to assume that the current generation of consoles will consistently sell until 2012, a six-year time feat accomplished only by the PlayStation 2.

Since its launch in November, the Nintendo Wii has performed remarkably well.  Consumers drawn to its unique interpretation of motion sensitive control and a low, low price tag have led to an already impressive 2.5 million units sold.  That’s nearly twice the retail success of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which has sold just 1.3 million times in the United States.

Despite Sony’s trouble, Microsoft is currently maintaining its hold on the console crown.  Keeping in mind that it shipped a full year ahead of Nintendo’s Wii, the Xbox 360 is now owned by 5.4 million Americans.  The addition of HDMI and a larger hard drive now consolidate its power online, while also opening new doors to downloadable content and the development of new, technically superior games.

The prediction of 35 million units was made by Nintendo of America Senior Vice President of Marketing George Harrison in an interview with financial watchdog Bloomberg news.  Although he admits no one at the company foresaw the Wii’s current success, his bold, even arrogant assertion places the tiny white machine on the same profitability path carved by Sony’s ubiquitous PlayStation 2, which has sold 38.5 million units in roughly the same time frame.

We may need to excuse Harrison and Nintendo for their “runner’s high”.  With their system performing far beyond expectations (a reason for its massive retail shortages), the company may be blind to other factors, including larger Sony and Microsoft games libraries as well as the Wii’s limitations – which should be only more visible six years from now.