14 DAY TRIAL // The Japanese videogames market, which was supposed to be rebounding following the release of the new PSP-3000, with its improved hardware, is sharply down, with all consoles registering significant drops in sales.
The PlayStation Portable still managed to sell a respectable 60,000 units in one week, but this otherwise good result seems weak when we see that it means the console lost over 90,000 units over the previous week. The problems with vertical scan lines appearing on the screen of the new hardware models might be blamed for the drop, as Sony said that the problem could be fixed via a firmware update and that users would have to cope with it.
The Nintendo DS has also seen numbers drop by no less than 7,000 units, to a total of 22,865 for one week. The launch of the new Nintendo DSi, which has taken place on November 1, is expected to drive up sales of the Nintendo handheld.
The Nintendo Wii registered a smaller drop in sales, by only 1,500 units, to reach over 24,000 consoles sold in one week, again selling more than the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 combined. The Microsoft made gaming console managed to keep its figures almost unchanged, selling 7,844 units, while its Sony made rival went to a record low in Japan, moving just 3,931 devices to customers. The PlayStation 2 performed better, with 6,962 consoles sold.
The Nintendo made Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode for the Nintendo DS was the best selling game, followed by a PlayStation 2 title Devil Summoner made by Atlus. The game was offered in a standard bundle, which only included a soundtrack CD, and in a Plus edition, which also contained Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Sales of the two versions combined were enough to get the game at number one, but the two editions were counted separately. Nintendo Wii, which debuted at number one the previous week, is now at number five in Japan.