Japanese Hardware: Portable Sales Up, Home Consoles Slump

Portable hardware sales have seen a modest increase in Japan this week, even as the software chart blooms into more vigorous life. There has been nothing to change the established order of the last several months though, with Nintendo DS sales up 5,500 units to 70,760 (55,613 for the DSi and 15,147 for the DS Lite). Despite a particularly strong week in the software sales, the PSP increased by only 1,500 units to 44,135. Meanwhile, the Wii only helped to illustrate Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata’s recent comments about the home console market in Japan, by falling 3,500 units to 23,278. PlayStation 3 sales were down a few hundred to 17,405 units for the week, while the Xbox 360 fell 1,500 units to 8,107. PlayStation 2 sales rose by a few hundred to 5,334. Overall in the software top 50, there were 20 titles for the Nintendo DS, 10 for the Wii, seven for the PSP, six for the PlayStation 3, five for the PlayStation 2, and two for the Xbox 360.