14 DAY TRIAL // The Nintendo Wii is selling extremely well right now in Japan, according to the latest official figures, but it seems that the PS3 is catching up as we speak, while the 360 may join the battle, as the Elite model is becoming increasingly popular. Surprisingly enough, the beginning of the current month sees a new champion rising, as the DS leads the temporary sales charts, being followed by the PSP.
It's no wonder since most recent blockbuster titles have surfaced on all platforms, including portable ones. I'm talking about Manhunt 2 plus the newcomer Silent Hill Origins, but also good old Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, still boosting those PSP Slim sales. So, the DS is number one with 76.273 units sold the last week, followed by Sony's portable gaming device, which sold 59.792 units and third comes the Wii, far behind the PSP with 27.502 units sold.
The Playstation 3 finishes right beneath the Wii, with 18.785 units sold on the last week, while the PS2 is close by with 11.698 units bought by those Sony fans. Checking out the bottom of the list we find a minimal amount of GameCube units sold, all 58 of them plus those 105 GBA units. Goes to show that a touchscreen-based device like the DS surpasses every other console, perhaps because of Nintendo's announced support for third party software with the aid of that cool DS flash card.
I'm expecting to see a rough battle when it comes to the sales department and it's going to take place at the end of the year, specially in the holidays season. At Christmas time, a new segment of buyers will surface, those people who have saved money all year in order to buy one of the above-mentioned consoles. Are you in for a smooth eye candy experience with the Xbox 360? Do you want to play cool portable party games on the DS? Are you going cheap with the PS2 which still manages to compete with the rest of devices through its numerous releases? Santa must have those answers.