New Colors Boost Weekly DS Sales In Japan

Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending June 24th, following details of the software top thirty yesterday. The release of two new colors for the Nintendo DS Lite (Metallic Rose and Gloss Silver) has had a relatively mild effect on weekly sales for the format thus far – although only one day of release was included in the latest data. With an increase of over 45,000 units to 163,918, though, it is an illustration of the format’s success in Japan that such a rise could be described in such a manner. Although Nintendo DS shortages (apart from the new colors) are lessening in Japan, the Wii is still supply-constrained, with sales almost identical to last week at 65,582. Despite not having a single title in the top thirty, the PSP also saw its sales remain largely static at 32,984 units, as did the PlayStation 2 at 11,962 units for the week. The PlayStation 3 also saw no substantial increase on the previous week’s figures at just 9,581 units sold. At the same time, sales for the Xbox 360 have fallen sharply, by over 4,000 units to 3,369, following the fall of Trusty Bell (aka Eternal Sonata) from the top thirty. Sales of the Game Boy Advance family of consoles more than halved to 414 units, while the GameCube dropped by almost a third to 82 units.