Sony’s PS3 has outsold Nintendo’s Wii for the past two weeks in Japan. The competition has been hotly contested and has inspired roaring debates between the two camps of supporters.

And so it was with anticipation that I inspected the hardware sales in Japan for the week ending the 25th of November, wondering what the next move in the next-gen race would be.

Somewhat expectedly the Nintendo DS topped the chart. Boasting five titles in the top ten of the software chart yesterday, the Nintendo DS continues to lead the overall console race. However, the figures did surprise me – the Nintendo DS has increased its lead over Sony’s PSP by selling a whopping 116 694 units this week. This is much higher than last week’s sales of 76 084 units and hints at an upward sales trend for the now-upon-us holiday season. Sony’s PSP also did remarkably well this week, selling 75 027 units and recording almost 10 000 units more than last week’s 65 609.

Moving on to the next-gen race…the results are in and the Nintendo Wii has taken back first place, selling roughly 4 000 more units than Sony’s PS3 although both consoles recorded a marked increase from last week’s sales. The Nintendo Wii sold 54 362 units, up from last week’s 36 230 while Sony’s PS3 sold 50 564 units, also up from last week’s 39 178. Make sure that you keep posted to check the results leading in to the holiday season. Perhaps this war will be won based on the popularity of upcoming titles.

The PS2 saw quite a marked increase in sales, selling 14 875 units (up from last week’s 8 855). This increase was due to two PS2 titles landing in the top ten of the software chart including a number 2 spot with Konami’s World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 selling 294 000 copies on the platform.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 still trails in the next-gen race. It saw a marginal increase from last week’s 6 525 to 7 117 units this week. The GBA sold 82 units, down from last week’s 262 while the Nintendo GameCube sold 44 units, up from last week’s 38.

Make sure you pop over to check out this week’s software chart with Dragon Quest IV debuts with over 500K. Want to see how the hardware faired last week, head over to PS3 outsells Wii for a second week.

Hardware Chart

Source: Media Create