Top consoles see Japan surge

Console sales in Japan have surged upwards once again with the DS, Wii and PlayStation Portable all seeing significant week on week double digit growth.

The DS continued to sit atop the chart, compiled from Media Create data for the week ending December 9, with 168,267 units sold - up 35 per cent on the previous week.

Meanwhile Wii sales were up 54 per cent to 115,057 and PSP numbers were up 24 per cent to 91,481.

Elsewhere the figures stayed mostly flat, with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gaining slightly, and the PlayStation 2 losing slightly.

Lifetime sales figure now show that in the past week the Wii broke through the 4 million barrier in Japan - the PS3 sits at just under 1.5 million and the Xbox 360 just under 500,000 - while the PSP crashed through the 7 million mark.

The DS, which has sold over 20 million units to date, is likely to pass the PS2's lifetime number in the next few weeks.

The full chart is as follows:

1. Nintendo DS: 168,267
2. Nintendo Wii: 115,057
3. PlayStation Portable: 91,481
4. PlayStation 3: 38,123
5. PlayStation 2: 11,987
6. Xbox 360: 8876