Fit for Christmas, Nintendo Wii console tops the present wish-list

COMPUTER games, mobile phone upgrades and budget mini-laptops are set to be the must have Christmas presents this year.

Nintendo's Wii Fit computer game was today named as the most searched for online product so far in the run-up to the festive season.

The computer game, which uses an electronic balance board to test player's fitness, was released this year.

Nintendo spokesman Robert Saunders said: "Despite increasing global production and shipping more product into the market than ever before, we may still have some stock shortages of Wii Fit." Today's figures, from internet monitoring company Hitwise, show that last month the number of searches for computer games overtook those for more expensive consoles. Wii Fit, which costs about £108, accounted for one in six searches for a computer game.

Robin Goad of Hitwise said: "This generation of consoles - the Wii, Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 - have started to mature, and more people are now looking for games online rather than the consoles."

After Wii Fit and the Wii console, the third most searched-for gadget is the Apple iPhone. Experts believe its popularity may even have boosted sales of its rivals as the Nokia N96, Sony Ericsson C905 and Samsung Omnia all increased their share of searches last month.

Searches for "netbooks" - small, inexpensive laptops - were also up.