Wii, PS3 See Hardware Sales Gains In Japan

The holidays were very good to Nintendo in Japan, with hardware sales big enough to translate to a second bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Eve. We’re talking 380,000 game machines moved in a week.

Leading Nintendo’s hardware charge was the Nintendo DSi. Sales were actually down, week to week, but still far enough ahead to claim the top spot. Also down was the PSP, which dropped from its Dissidia: Final Fantasy release week high.

Seeing the biggest gain, however, percentage wise, was the PlayStation 3. That was thanks to the release of Level 5’s PS3 exclusive role-playing game White Knight Chronicles. Not enough to push it past Nintendo DS Lite numbers, but a step in the right direction for Sony in Japan. Perhaps the Japanese releases of Yakuza 3, Demon’s Souls and Street Fighter IV launches in early February will help spark PS3 “momentum.”

Not much happening on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 front, but the full chart from December 22 to 28 looks like…

• Nintendo DSi – 188,697
• Wii – 134,958
• PSP – 118,765
• Nintendo DS – 56,453
• PlayStation 3 – 45,989
• Xbox 360 – 13,011
• PlayStation 2 – 10,404