PlayStation Line Surges in Japan

It's been a week of role reversal on the Japanese videogames market even as sales tend to be slowing down after the turn of the year. The PlayStation line from Sony seems to be ready to topple the Nintendo consoles, while New Super Mario Bros. is hanging on to the top spot in the software chart.

The Nintendo Wii managed to sell 163,855 units during the week that ended on January 3, 2010, which is significantly lower than the 215,129 it sold during the previous period.

The second spot when it comes to sales went to the PlayStation Portable, the version that still has a removable battery and a UMD drive, selling 132,911 units, which is about 30% better than during the previous interval, while the PlayStation 3 also saw an increase to 114,368 console sold, an increase of about 4,000 units. The Nintendo DSi is in fourth place, also registering a fall, with the LL version, featuring a bigger screen, is in fifth.

The older DS Lite managed to sell better than the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, 17,388 consoles to 6,878, while the PSP Go was beaten in terms of sales by the PlayStation 2, proving that the device is a bad idea on Sony's part.

With New Super Mario Bros. selling another 268,212 copies during the week that ended on January 3, Tomodachi Collection, a Nintendo DS title, gained one place to arrive in second spot, with 185,502 units moved to players. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks lost one place with sales of 126,303.

Final Fantasy XIII from Square Enix held on to fourth place, while Wii Fit Plus succeeded in climbing to fifth spot with 105,427 copies sold. The chart will probably be contested by the same titles until the release of God of War III, the PlayStation 3 exclusive that has the brand recognition to go to number one.