Weekly Japanese video game hardware chart: PlayStation 3 surges in popularity

(SONY)

This week's hot hardware news from Japan is that the PlayStation 3 has overtaken the Nintendo Wii in weekly sales, and is the only game console to experience a significant increase in demand.

That achievement was no doubt in part founded on the release of Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition, which is the full game plus additional content and directorial revisions that make more fan-pleasing references to earlier games in the series.

Facing an opposite turn of fortune, Sony's newest iteration of the PSP handheld gaming platform, the PSP Go, continues to sell in miserable quantities. Once again, even the PlayStation 2 which celebrates its 10-year anniversary in March, manages to appeal more to Japanese consumers.

Sony has recently been quoted as saying that the PSP Go is a triumph for consumer choice - those that want a more compact PSP that has a slide-out screen, runs all its games from the memory card, and therefore uses battery power more efficiently can enjoy the Go.

Those that don't can opt for the standard PSP with a larger screen and the ability to play disk-based games, meaning that users can search for bargains rather than buying soley from the PlayStation Network Store.

1) Nintendo DS: 44,821
2) Sony PSP: 34,167
3) PlayStation 3: 32,130
4) Nintendo Wii: 31,652
5) Xbox 360: 2,453
6) PlayStation 2: 1,883

Sony PSP sales breakdown
PSP: 32,796
PSP Go: 1,371

Nintendo DS sales breakdown
DSi LL (aka xL): 24,388
DSi: 15,380
DS Lite: 5,053

Source: Media Create