14 DAY TRIAL // Although some reports released in the middle of the last week suggested that the Xbox 360, with its new reduced price tag, was overtaking the Nintendo Wii in sales on the Japanese market, the weekly data from market research firm Media Create says that the Microsoft made console came very close but fell just short of overtaking the Nintendo made device.
The top performer in the Land of the Rising Sun was, as in the previous few weeks, the Nintendo DS, which managed to sell around 63,000 handheld devices. The 12,000 units upswing in the numbers can mainly be attributed to the launch of two games that were widely expected, Pokemon Platinum and Konami’s Quiz Magic Academy DS.
Meanwhile, the PlayStation Portable registered a fall in sales, dipping by 4,000 units to reach around 30,000 consoles sold. The Sony made device is now awaiting the release of the new version, the PSP-3000, hoping that a boost in sales will accompany the launch.
The Nintendo Wii managed, as said, to hold on to the third spot, only just head of the Xbox 360, with sales standing at 29,686 and 28,188 units. It's expected that the following period will see the Xbox 360 make a run for the third spot in the hardware sales charts.
The PlayStation 3 sold just above 8,000 consoles, with the PlayStation 2 coming in fifth place, with just over 7,500 units sold.
Pokemon Platinum was the most sold videogame released in Japan, with sales topping 900,000 copies in a week; thus, it entered history. Second spot in the charts went to Quiz Magic Academy from Konami also for the Nintendo DS, which managed to sell 119,000 units.
If the data from Japan is accurate, then it means that the Xbox 360 is set to perform well against the Nintendo Wii on a worldwide level, with the two consoles battling for the big money coming out of the Christmas shopping period.