14 DAY TRIAL // In Japan, which offers weekly updates on hardware and software sales, the Xbox 360, with its price cut, is still leading the PlayStation 3 in sales but the advantage it enjoys is now lower and the Nintendo Wii is selling way better than the two other top gaming consoles combined.
The Nintendo DS was the best selling piece of gaming hardware, with some 42,000 units sold in a week, which means a drop of more than 15,000 over the previous week. The downward trend might be attributed to the recent announcement of the Nintendo DSi, a new variant of the console, which would launch shortly in Japan.
The PlayStation Portable managed an increase of a few hundred units in sales, surging past the Nintendo Wii with sales of just over 26,000 units. The Nintendo Wii continued to lose sales in Japan, having sold a little over 25,000 consoles in one week. Sales are expected to rebound as the Christmas shopping period approaches.
In a surprising move, the PlayStation 2 managed to sell better than both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, as it moved 8,618 units to customers. The Xbox 360 lost more than 3,000 units in sales and reached the figure of 8,271 while the PlayStation 3 only sold 7,232 units.
After being dethroned last week by Super Robot Wars for the PlayStation 2, the Pokemon powered Platinum for the DS managed to be the top selling videogame in Japan again, with 112,000 copies sold, while Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special for the PlayStation 2 sold 110,000 games in one week. Super Robot Taisen Z from Namco Bandai is now at number three in the software chart. The Nintendo DS titles dominated the top 50, with 23 games compared to just nine for the Nintendo Wii.