PlayStation 3 soars above Nintendo’s Wii in Japan
Every week this year Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been beaten out over in Japan by the powerhouse that is Nintendo’s Wii. However, following a timely price-cut over in the Land of the Rising Sun, as well as the launch of the new white PlayStation 3, the tides have turned this week and Sony has proved to be triumphant.
Each week Japanese sales tracker ‘Media Create’ releases data on the Top 50 all format software sales, plus the breakdown of hardware numbers and for the week that ran between 5th and 11th of November, Sony saw its PlayStation 3 console shoot upwards to dizzy heights not seen since around launch time, lifting the platform above the sales of Nintendo’s Wii, which has been struggling lately, despite the release of seminal 3D platform title ‘Super Mario Galaxy’. The full breakdown of the hardware sales for the week, along with each platform’s previous weekly numbers, year totals and lifetime figures can be seen in the easy-to-view table below:
Media Create Hardware Chart
| Format | This Week | Last Week | 2007 Sales | Lifetime Sales |
| Nintendo DS | 78,884 | 78,597 | 5,961,099 | 19,966,778 |
| PlayStation Portable | 58,964 | 59,714 | 2,244,938 | 6,777,067 |
| PlayStation 3 | 55,924 | 17,434 | 844,568 | 1,302,126 |
| Wii | 34,546 | 37,617 | 2,860,430 | 3,780,073 |
| PlayStation 2 | 9,043 | 10,209 | 658,773 | 20,813,632 |
| Xbox 360 | 5,817 | 17,673 | 188,716 | 453,418 |
| Game Boy Advance | 923 | 319 | 49,903 | 15,347,982 |
| GameCube | 69 | 155 | 10,303 | 4,179,771 |
As you can see, clearly Sony has had quite a boost this week, with the PlayStation 3 nearly catching up to the revitalised PlayStation Portable this week. The question has to be, though, whether or not next week will see similarly large numbers, or whether the majority of sales have come from owners of the black model merely trading in their old system for the new one.
Onto the other important factor this week, actual software sold, Media Create reveals that Sony fans were shooting out and picking up the new Dynasty Warriors game in their droves as Koei’s Shin Sangoku Musou 6 lights up the Top 50 by entering at No.2 with sales of around 188,000 in its début week, making it one of the best selling PlayStation 3 games already. The only reason it was not top of the charts is due to Nintendo shipping a massive 500,000 copies of Mario Party DS to retail, allowing eager portable owners to snap up a stunning 235,000 copies of the Hudson Soft-developed title very quickly indeed. On the Sony front again, Konami’s new Castlevania game on the PlayStation Portable has basically sold through all of its initial stock, landing at No.9 with sales of around 19,000, whilst Ratchet & Clank fails to perform quite as well as expected, but still garners a No.10 placing.
You can check out the full Top 50 listing below, complete with small comments on the various games featured:
Media Create Top 50 Software Chart:
5th-11th November, 2007
| Position | Title/System/Publisher | Sales (Plus Total Where Available & Commentary) |
| 1.) | Mario Party DS (NDS, Nintendo) | 235,000 | NEW |
| 2.) | Shin Sangoku Musou 6 (PS3, Koei) | 188,000 | NEW |
| 3.) | Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo) | 74,000 | 325,000 |
| 4.) | Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (NDS, Square-Enix) | 23,000 | 215,000 |
| 5.) | Shin Sangoku Musou 6 (360, Koei) | 22,000 | NEW |
| 6.) | Castlevania Chronicles (PSP, Konami) | 19,000 | NEW |
| 7.) | Wii Sports (Wii, Nintendo) | 15,000 | 2,197,000 |
| 8.) | Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series (NDS, Tecmo) | 13,000 | 129,000 |
| 9.) | Sight Training (NDS, Nintendo) | 13,000 | 690,000 |
| 10.) | Ratchet & Clank Future (PS3, Sony) | 12,000 | NEW |
| 11.) | Wii Play (Wii, Nintendo) | Back up one place |
| 12.) | Kanji Brain Test 2.5M (NDS, IE Institute) | Dropping down just one |
| 13.) | Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo) | Up two places |
| 14.) | Mario Party 8 (Wii, Nintendo) | Up two places |
| 15.) | DS Literature Collection (NDS, Nintendo) | Falling ten places |
| 16.) | Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (NDS, The Pokémon Company) | Down six, but likely to surge back up as Christmas approaches |
| 17.) | New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo) | Up three more this week |
| 18.) | My Housekeeping Diary (NDS, Nintendo) | Jumping back up seven |
| 19.) | Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (PS3, UbiSoft) | New entry |
| 20.) | Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (NDS, The Pokémon Company) | Falling six places |
| 21.) | World Soccer Winning Eleven DS: Goal x Goal (NDS, Konami) | Falling quickly from No.9 and looking to struggle to reach the sales milestone of its DS predecessor |
| 22.) | Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP, Bandai-Namco) | Down five places |
| 23.) | Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (360, Bandai-Namco) | Plummeting from last week’s No.2, but not out of the Top 30 like Halo 3 did |
| 24.) | NBA Live 08 (PS2, EA) | New entry |
| 25.) | More Brain Training (NDS, Nintendo) | Dropping one place |
| 26.) | More English Training (NDS, Nintendo) | Back up from No.34 |
| 27.) | Tamagotchi no Puchi-Puchi Omisecchi: Thanks Everybody! (NDS, Bandai-Namco) | Sliding four places, but could still get a new lease of life in the coming weeks |
| 28.) | Animal Crossing Wild World (NDS, Nintendo) | Dropping one |
| 29.) | Dragon Tamer: Sound Spirit (NDS, Bandai-Namco) | Down ten places fast |
| 30.) | Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP, Capcom) | Holding at No.30 for another week! |
| 31.) | Kanji Test 2 (Rocket Co.) | Dropping hard, down from No.18 |
| 32.) | Hot Shots Golf 5 (PS3, Sony) | Moving back up five in the wake of the renewed PS3 activity |
| 33.) | Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander the 2nd (PS2, Banpresto) | Dropping like a stone from last week’s No.4! |
| 34.) | Ar Tonelico 2 (PS2, Banpresto) | Falling even faster than last week, now down from No.13 |
| 35.) | Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2, Bandai-Namco) | Down from No.22 and a real underperformer |
| 36.) | Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops+ (PSP, Konami) | Losing steam following the PSP Slim release, down five |
| 37.) | Ghost Squad (Wii, Sega) | Falling eleven places, but performing stronger than many expected and clearly well enough for Sega to greenlight the House of the Dead Wii project |
| 38.) | Brain Training (NDS, Nintendo) | Sliding just three |
| 39.) | Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP, Square-Enix) | The bottom has now fallen out of this one, dropping eleven and showing now signs of recovery |
| 40.) | Drum Master DS (NDS, Bandai-Namco) | Finally on its way out after a longer than expected chart spell, unless Christmas boosts this popular, and immensely fun, rhythm game |
| 41.) | Just Cause (360, EA) | New entry |
| 42.) | Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX: Tag Force 2 (PSP, Konami) | Moving back up six |
| 43.) | WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, Nintendo) | Back up another three - could Wario climb even higher a year after release? |
| 44.) | Sangokushi DS 2 (NDS, Koei) | Falling fast, down eleven in its second week and a major disappointment for Koei |
| 45.) | English Training (NDS, Nintendo) | Down just four places for this long-term seller |
| 46.) | NBA Live 08 (PS3, EA) | A very low new entry, but then again there is no sign of the Wii version… |
| 47.) | Prof. Layton and the Curious Village (NDS, Level 5) | A re-entry, with its sequel just around the corner now |
| 48.) | Brilliantly-Coloured Gift (PS2, Takuyo) | New entry |
| 49.) | Yosumin DS (NDS, Square-Enix) | A very disappointing start for this really addictive DS puzzle game from the RPG heavyweights |
| 50.) | Pokémon Diamond (NDS, The Pokémon Company) | Sticking at No.50 for a second week |
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