DS Increases Lead In Weekly Japanese Hardware Charts

Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending July 22nd, following details of the software top thirty. With software sales still remaining buoyant in the Japanese market there has been relatively little change to hardware sales figures this week, with the Nintendo DS still well ahead of the other formats. The format saw a continuation of a recent minor surge in weekly sales figures, as the hardware becomes more readily available across Japan, with an increase of over 12,500 units to 154,504 in total. Although retailers are now largely able to keep the Nintendo DS in stock in Japan, the Wii continues to have stock problems. After a high last week, to coincide with the release of Dragon Quest Swords, sales this week have dropped by around 23,000 units to 86,786. With only one title in the top fifty (Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters at number forty-five) the PSP has seen sales drop by over 4,500 units to 32,894 for the week. Despite the success of Power Pro Baseball 14 PlayStation 2 sales also fell, by almost 2,000 units, to a total of 14,059. PlayStation 3 sales fell by over 1,000 units to 12,187. Despite only one title in the top fifty (My Summer Vacation 3 at number fifty) PlayStation 3 sales are expected to receive a boost next week, with the release of the keenly awaited Hot Shots Golf 5. With no titles in the software top fifty Xbox 360 sales fell by a few hundred to 2,664 units. The Game Boy Advance family of consoles remained relatively constant at 461, as did the GameCube at 131 units sold.