PS3 Is Best Selling Console In Weekly Japanese Charts

Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending June 15th, following details of the software top thirty. The release of Metal Gear Solid 4 has had a highly significant impact on console sales in Japan, with the PlayStation 3 becoming the best selling console in Japan for the first time this year and enjoying its highest weekly sales since launch. Sales for Sony’s lead home console increased by over 64,000 units to a total of 75,311, thanks to the release of Konami’s new exclusive. By comparison, the success of PlayStation 3 title Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, at number one in the software charts the previous week, brought with it an increase in hardware sales of just 1,500 units. As in the software charts, other formats enjoyed a quiet week, with PSP sales up over 2,500 units to 64,674. Wii sales saw an even smaller increase of just under 1,000 units to 45,564 for the week. Nintendo DS hardware sales rallied by over 4,000 units for a total of 39,201, while PlayStation 2 sales rose by around 1,000 units to 7,297. The Xbox 360 saw sales dip by a few hundred units to 2,163. Overall in the software sales top fifty there were thirty titles for the Nintendo DS, nine for the Wii, five for the PSP, three for the PlayStation 2, two for the PlayStation 3 and one for the Xbox 360.