14 DAY TRIAL // In its second week in stores in Japan, the all new and improved Nintendo DSi handheld has managed to sell another 104,897 units, adding to the more than 171,000 units moved in the first weekend since launch. The older Lite model of the device also sold about 10,000 units, and the overall sales reached 113,278 for the week.
The PlayStation Portable, which has now been upgraded to the new PSP-3000 standard, with a better screen and better hardware, sold around 43,000 units. However, it seems that the Sony made handheld will not be able to challenge the Nintendo DSi for supremacy as the holiday shopping period approaches.
The Nintendo Wii is the most successful of the home consoles, with 24,726 units sold in one week, which means a 1,500-unit drop over the previous week. Both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 sold better than usual, thanks mainly to well received hardware bundles. The Sony made console has moved 18,354 units, which is less than half the number sold in the previous week, while the Microsoft made console saw almost a doubling of sales, to 12,759 units.
The best selling game in Japan was a Nintendo one. While there's no surprise there, the fact that a remake of the old SNES game Kirby Super Star, now titled Kirby Super Star Ultra, has reached the top spot shows the lack of other significant launches and the power that nostalgia has over modern gamers. Other family related titles, like Rhythm Heaven, Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode, and Personal Trainer: Walking registered good performances as far as software sales go.
There are rumors that Sony is getting ready to launch some new bundles featuring the PlayStation 2, which is seen as great value in these times of economic hardship, and some are speculating that both the hardware chart and the software one will be significantly changed once that happens.