Enterbrain, a company that specializes in the analysis of the Japanese hardware and software market, has released its findings related to the evolution of the videogames market over the fiscal year that has just ended on March 30. While not mind-blowing the figures suggest clear, sustained growth.

The combined sales of gaming hardware, including consoles and videogames, have reached more than 667 billion yen, which is about 6.6 billion dollars, sporting a healthy 3.8 percent rise since the previous fiscal year. The breakdown of the figures has revealed some surprises.

In a market where graphics power and blockbuster games seem to be the norm, the Japanese public prefers the Nintendo DS, with its touchscreen capabilities and innovation, over the more powerful PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. The Nintendo DS can brag about the 6,343,547 units it sold in a year the lifetime total of sales reaching an estimated 22,169,761. The number of units sold in 2007 is almost double the number sold by its nearest competitor.

The Nintendo Wii was on the second position with 3,741,946 units sold in the 2007 fiscal year and a lifetime total of 5,695,579, while the PlayStation Portable had sales of 3,427,971 for a lifetime total of 8,574,026.

Speaking of Sony, the PlayStation 3 sold 1,197,418 units over the year, while PlayStation 2 sales numbers were not made public. Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold just 235,318, with just around 600,000 sold in Japan since the console launched.

Wii Fit from Nintendo topped the software sales chart, registering more than 1,700,000 units sold, even if it was released in December. Close on its heels were Nintendo titles Mario Party DS and Wii Sports. SuperSmash Bros. Brawl took fourth place with a little more than 1 million and a half in sales, followed by Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 on the Nintendo DS.

So it seems that Nintendo has been dominating Japan in the fiscal year of 2007, both on the hardware and on the software market. The question is if it can keep it up in 2008.