Nintendo consoles top in Japan

Nintendo consoles were the only hardware platforms that saw sales rise in Japan last week, according to the latest data from Media Create.

For the week ending December 2 the DS sold 124,627 units, up from 116,694 the previous week, while the Wii shifted 74,764, up from 54,362 in the week before.

That brings the lifetime sales figure for the handheld console to 20,284,183 - at which rate it will overtake the PlayStation 2's lifetime figure in the middle of January next year.

The Wii should break the 4 million barrier in the next couple of weeks, while the PlayStation Portable will pass the 7 million barrier next week.

Meanwhile all of the other hardware platforms saw sales fall.

The PSP dropped a fraction to come in third, just behind the Wii, on 74,626, while the PlayStation 3 fell more dramatically, around 26 per cent to 37,092.

PS2 sales continued on the long tail, dropping slightly to 13,703 while the Xbox 360 sold 6632 units.

The full list is as follows:

1. Nintendo DS: 124,627