Xbox 360 Sales Drop Significantly in Japan

In a not too surprising move, the interest in the Xbox 360 in Japan, just two weeks after Microsoft decided to cut the price of its gaming console, is beginning to return to normal levels while Nintendo regains its choke hold on the hardware sales chart.

The Nintendo DS, which is again rumored to get a significant make over, managed to retain the top spot in sales as it moved no less than 61,000 units, which means 2,500 less than last week but still significantly more than the Nintendo Wii, which only managed to sell some 29,686 units. The PlayStation Portable from Sony fell from the top two for the first time after a long time, with sales of just 28,674 units. The gaming platform is awaiting the launch of the PSP-3000 model, which is set to make it competitive again and greatly increase sales.

The Xbox 360 was in fourth place this week, with a little more than 13,500 sold. The bad news is that the console registered a drop of more than 14,000 units in just a week, which means that the effect of the price cut will be limited in both time frame and sales numbers. The good news is that the console still managed to sell more than the PlayStation 3 from Sony, which only moved some 8,000 units during the same week, while the older gen PlayStation 2 sold 7,720 units.

Pokemon Platinum for the Nintendo DS is again the best sold video game, with more than 300,000 copies sold in its second week on the shelves, the total number being close to 1,3 million games sold. At number two, we have a new entry, Dragon Ball DS from Namco Bandai, which managed to sell 72,000 units. Rhythm Tengoku Gold for the Nintendo DS sat at third place with sales of 64,000 units in one week.