Ninty makes other folks rich, too

via wiifanboy

Here's an interesting little factoid: the Wii is driving the Asian import/export market to record highs, and those are just the legal imports. No, we don't mean the act of one guy selling another guy a console, but rather the market surrounded the creation and transportation of our favorite new console. Nintendo had a big part in the record-setting month of November, when toy imports from China (where they build Wiis, as well as everything else ever) to Japan came in at a little over 200 million big ones (¥25.3billion). Apparently, the Wii was responsible for a good 40% of that amount -- nearly half! That's a huge effect, and according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun, "No other video game console has had such a big effect on imports."

Well, take that, analysts. You may continue to sing the imminent victory of the PS3, but the Wii drives global commerce. We hear it also serves as a volunteer firefighter on off days. Now if only you could find one ....