The Nintendo-Playstation-Xbox war is heating up over holidays, as expected. Sony isn't about to give up on its gaming powerhouse Playstation 3: the company announced it will launch a major TV push in the UK for its console in a bid to win over shoppers in the crucial Christmas season battle against rivals Nintendo and Xbox.

"The new campaign is designed to showcase the wealth of entertainment available on PlayStation 3," explained Alan Duncan, marketing director at Sony Computer Entertainment UK, to Guardian Unlimited.

Meanwhile, Nintendo Wii is still ruling the console scene, one year after its launch. The AP reports that the mega-successful console is still the most wanted widget in the United States. While rivals Sony and Microsoft have cut their consoles' prices to compete, Nintendo still sells as much units as it can produce.

Nintendo Co. has ramped up production several times, but acknowledges that it won't be able to satisfy holiday-season demand. Although Wiis can still be found in stores by patient shoppers, new Wii systems are selling on eBay about $100 above the $250 store price.

The Wii also claimed the title of quickest console to reach 200,000 sales in Australia, according to figures by industry tracker GfK Australia.

In Japan, Sony’s next generation console has beaten both the Wii and Xbox 360 for the second week running, according to market research firm Media Create. Internationally, in the third quarter, Nintendo Wii has sold 11.5m consoles, Xbox 360 sold 10.9m units and Sony PS3 4.6m.

This year, many analysts have pointed out that gaming consoles sales will be boosted by the hazardous toy paranoia, which means that most parents will rather buy a gaming device than face a slim risk of exposing their children to a potentially dangerous toy.