Nintendo tops Japanese hardware charts

Nintendo machines continue to occupy the top two slots in the Japanese hardware sales charts, according to new figures from data trackers Media Create.

During the week ending April 8 sales of Nintendo DS rose by 28 per cent to reach 110,935 units, despite continuing stock shortages. Wii sales were also up slight from 51,365 units to hit 52,583. Enterbrain figures put total sales of Wii in Japan at 2 million as of April 13.

In third place was the PSP, although sales were down by nearly 20 per cent at 31,503 units. PlayStation 2 sales also experienced a 20 per cent drop, falling from 17,787 50 to 14,234 units.

Sony's handheld is outselling its next-gen console by a rate of more than two to one - 14,520 PlayStation 3 units were sold compared to 16,889 a week previously. The total number of PS3s sold in Japan has now reached nearly 826,000.

Xbox 360 is still struggling to secure a foothold in the Japanese market - sales stood at 2963 units, a drop of 24 per cent. So far just over 346,500 units have been sold in the territory since the console was launched in December 2005.

Rounding out the hardware chart are Game Boy Advance, with sales up slightly to hit 1357 units, and GameCube - also enjoying an increase from 205 to 255 units.