Sales Fall in Japan, Dissidia Dominates Charts

Not unexpectedly, given the fact that the holiday shopping season is over, hardware and software sales are falling all across the world. But the most recent data is coming out of the Japanese market and it seems that we are in for a dismal at the beginning of 2009, as far as sales go.

The Nintendo DS is still the best sold console in Japan, with 101,630 units moved in one week. More than three quarters of the consoles sold are of the newer DSi version, which has two cameras added at the expense of the GBA port. Still, the DS Lite version is also continuing to be popular, mainly because of its back compatibility. Analysts need to bear in mind the fact that the number of consoles sold is down to almost half of that registered the previous week.

Sony's PlayStation Portable also registered a big drop, reaching only 60,495 units in sales. Still, it got the embattled Sony a precious second spot, with the Nintendo Wii sitting in third place with sales of some 41,000 units.

The PlayStation 3 registered a drop of half the sales it enjoyed in the previous week, managing to move just above 28,000 units in one week, still remaining well ahead of the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, a platform that sold just 10.554 units. The PlayStation 2 is showing its age in Japan with a little over 6,600 units sold in one week.

Square Enix is continuing to dominate the videogame charts, with sales of 49,000 copies for its Dissidia: Final Fantasy title, which has so far sold more than 800,000 units in Japan. Second place went to an old favorite, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G from Capcom, while Rhythm Tengoku Gold is the first Nintendo DS game in the charts. It's not every week that you see two PlayStation Portable games topping the chart.