NEW YORK, March 20 (UPI) -- The physically interactive Nintendo Wii pushed Sony's ballyhooed PlayStation 3 into third place in the gaming console battle, U.S. sales statistics show.

The New York-based NPD Group reported the Wii was the top-selling console video game system in February, with an estimated 335,000 units sold, outpacing the Microsoft Xbox 360 with 228,000 and the PS3 with 127,000, USA Today said Tuesday.

PS3's performance "is simply abysmal," Newsweek's N'Gai Croal said in the article.

"The PS3 is sucking wind right now" for a number of reasons, Croal said, including price, negative buzz surrounding its initial release and the lack of big-name software titles.

Nintendo's $250 Wii, released the same week in November as the PS3 -- at a cost between $500 and $600 -- has sold about 1.9 million so far, compared with 1.1 million PS3s.

Sony maintains that sales of the PS3, launching in Europe this week, rival the early sales of Xbox 360 and and the older PS2 system.

Some observers agree the PS3 will build momentum as time goes on, noting the release of two games later this year could energize its core gaming audience.