DSi XL dominates in Japanese hardware sales
New DS model pushes Nintendo back to the top, as other sales suffer
The launch of the Nintendo DSi XL (known as the DSi LL in Japan) has given the Japanese hardware sales charts a boost, with 100,553 units sold in the first week.
Media Create's figures for the new model's first two days on sale match those of rival chart compiler Enterbrain almost exactly. The total also compares well to initial sales of the DSi of around 170,000 and of the PSPgo of around 28,000.
Total sales of all Nintendo DS models amounted to 137,674 units this week, with 32,070 sales for the DSi (down by around 1500 units from the previous week) and 5051 for the DS Lite (almost unchanged from the previous week).
The DS XL, which features a larger 4.2 inch screen than the current models but is otherwise near identical in functionality to the standard DSi, is due to be released in the West next spring.
Sales for other formats were almost all down on the previous week, not helped by another slow week in terms of the software charts. The PSP format was the second biggest seller, with overall sales of 37,326 units - down almost 8000 units on the previous week. PSP-3000 sales were 32,752 units (down 6000) and PSPgo sales were 4574 units (down almost 2000).
Apart from the DS, Wii sales were the only other format to show an increase on the previous week - rising 6,000 units to 32,844. This still wasn't quite enough to catch up with the PlayStation 3 though, which despite a drop of almost 4000 units was still the best selling home console on 34,752.
Despite the success of Left 4 Dead 2 in the software charts Xbox 360 sales remained static at 4085 units, with the PlayStation 2 also unchanged at 2024.