Nintendo has launched its new console in Japan, making about 400,000 units available at launch, considerably more than Sony's meager offering at the PS3 launch. Major retail outlet Bic Camera had 3,000 units in store, with hundreds of people lined outside for hours, and pre-orders that sold out across the country in minutes. Nintendo plans to have another 600,000 Wii's available ion Japan by year's end. The Wii launches in Europe on December 8.