Japan Charts: DS dominates, passes out PSP's year to date sales

Nintendo's DS continues to top the hardware sales rankings in Japan and has now outsold the PlayStation Portable in the year to date figures - while quirky crossover PS2 RPG Namco X Capcom has topped the software ranking.

The success of the DS has defied expectations from most market watchers, who expected the PSP to catch up rapidly with the sales lead Nintendo's console had built up in the fourth quarter of 2004 once both systems were in good supply at retail.

However, a strong line-up of software for the DS has kept it selling better than its more powerful rival for the last few weeks, with games such as Nintendogs putting in chart-topping performances.

Year to date sales of the DS now stand at over 904,000 units, according to top market-watchers Media Create, while the PSP has sold 892,000 units - which, combined with the DS' far more impressive performance at launch in late 2004, puts the Nintendo system way out in front of Sony's platform.

Looking to software, the Namco-published crossover RPG Namco X Capcom is this week's chart-topper, leading a top three entirely made up of new games - with Enterbrain's PS2 title Bewick Saga at number two, and Bandai's anime-licensed DS title SD Gundam G Generation DS at number three.

Four other new titles make it into the ranking this week, helping to propel sales further out of the major slump they experienced earlier this spring. Genki's Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix, Gust's Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana 2 and Square Enix' Hanjuku Hero 4: 7 Nin no Hanjuku Hero, all on PS2, occupy places five to seven respectively, while US-developed Cube title Metroid Prime 2: Echoes comes in at number nine.

Also still selling well is Nintendo's "not-a-game" DS title DS Training for Adults: Work Your Brain, which is at number four in its second week of sales - further proof, if any were needed, of the platform's potential to reach beyond normal gaming genres and, indeed, the normal game purchasing demographic.