Japanese Hardware: DSi Dominates As PS3 Outsells Xbox Again

Sales of the Nintendo DSi continue to dominate in Japan, as the format settles down from its launch three weeks ago. Combined sales for the DS format fell by 16,000 units to 88,886 – still well above the format’s weekly totals for most of the previous year. Most formats saw a slight stepdown in sales this week though, despite a strong week in the software charts. For example, still suffering from a recent lull in prominent new software releases, the PSP fell by over 5,500 units to a total of 38,153. Although the Wii has also suffered from indifferent software sales, with no titles in the top 10 for the third week running, it managed to increase its total by a couple of thousand units to 26,787. The PlayStation 3 was able to comfortably hold onto its fourth placed position, with a drop of just less than 1,000 units to 17,448. The Xbox 360 had a relatively poor week in fifth place, though, with sales falling by more than a third to 7,983 units. Microsoft’s format still enjoys a far more prominent position in the Japanese market than during the first half of the year, though, with the PlayStation 2 now the regular last placed console - with sales static at 5,421 units for the week. Overall in the software top 50, there were 26 titles for the Nintendo DS, eight for the Wii, six for the PlayStation 3, five for the PSP, three for the PlayStation 2 and two for the Xbox 360.