DS sales rocket in Japan following software frenzy

Sales of the Nintendo DS handheld in Japan rose over 50 per cent in the week ending November 25, with all other platforms also experiencing increases.

The DS shifted over 116,000 units, most likely off the back of the release of Dragon Quest IV, and has now soared past 6 million sold in Japan this year and 20 million sold in Japan to date, according to Media Create.

With the software top ten titles selling nearly 1.5 million units in the same week, a hardware surge was to be expected, although the other platforms didn't benefit quite so much as the DS.

The PlayStation Portable was up from 65,000 to 75,000, the Wii up from 36,000 to 54,000 while the PlayStation 3 jumped from 39,000 to 50,000.

The full sales numbers for hardware are as follows:

1. Nintendo DS: 116,694
2. PlayStation Portable: 75,027
3. Nintendo Wii: 54,362
4. PlayStation 3: 50,564
5. PlayStation 2: 14,875
6. Xbox 360: 7117