Scratch that. There was a slight change. PSP sales jumped up, PlayStation 3 sales dropped down and the two platforms switched positions from the week prior.

With PSP games and PS3 games selling well, sometimes better than their Nintendo DS and Wii rivals, it’s not much of a surprise to see Sony’s current generation platforms reaping the benefits of a larger install base. With Final Fantasy XIII due to hit the PS3 in Japan in less than a month, expect those increases to continue.

This is Japan’s bestselling hardware for the week of November 9 to 15, courtesy of Media Create.

• PSP – 38,770
• PlayStation 3 – 38,498
• Nintendo DSi – 33,749
• Wii – 26,764
• PSP go – 6,427
• Nintendo DS Lite – 5,036
• Xbox 360 – 4,124
• PlayStation 2 – 2,031

The news supports previous reports on Sony’s 3D PlayStation 3 strategy, suggesting that a firmware upgrade would introduce the capability to existing consoles. Not only does Sony plan on upgrading the console to support 3D, but release games in 3D as well in order to take advantage of the enhanced capabilities.

Of course, 3D games and 3D televisions would go hand-in-hand, so adding the capability to the PlayStation 3 would definitely help drive at least a few television sales.

Would you purchase a new television to support 3D gaming, or is Sony seeing things?

They reckon that, with the rumoured machine due to launch late next year, it’s going to be powered by the second iteration of nVidia’s Tegra chipset, not the original as was first suggested. For reference, the Zune HD – capable of stuff like this – runs on the Tegra, while Nintendo’s new handheld would be running on the Tegra 2.

nVidia reckon the Tegra 2 has four times the power of the Tegra. So look at what the Zune HD can do then imagine something… better.

Course, we still have no idea what Nintendo have planned for their next handheld; it could be another two-screen device, it could be a return to the single-screen days of the Game Boy, it could be something else entirely. But hey, whatever it is, it’s nice to know (if this info checks out) that we’re looking at a substantial upgrade from the current DS tech.

Oh, and if you’re interested, the Digital Foundry piece also has some less concrete stuff on Sony’s supposed PSP2 as well.

In Theory: Nintendo DS2 vs. Sony PSP2 [Digital Foundry]

And doing so by a relatively wide margin, as the PS3 outsold the Nintendo DSi by more than 10,000 units, the console’s closest competitor. Less exciting for Sony executives is the PSPgo’s second week sales, mustering up just shy of 14,000.

The full Japanese hardware sales rundown, courtesy of Media Create is after this.

• PlayStation 3 – 48,925
• Nintendo DSi – 37,421
• PSP – 33,784
• Wii – 31,810
• PSP go – 13992
• Nintendo DS Lite – 5515
• Xbox 360 – 4679
• PlayStation 2 – 2066

Is it worth buying a piece of plastic to slap onto your controller? Let’s see.

Loved
Fanboy Look: If you’re a big fan of Modern Warfare 2 and want everyone to know it, this is a great way to do that. The vinyl faceplate snaps tightly onto the controller leaving very little to tell it’s an aftermarket add-on.

Feel: Once locked in place, the faceplate doesn’t really change the feel of the controller at all. And that’s a good thing. The only seam you’ll notice lines up with where the controller halves are screwed together, so it even looks like your controller came splashed with Modern Warfare 2 art.

Hated
Flimsy Alone: If you plan on not leaving this faceplate on all of the time you’d better be careful where you store it. The thin vinyl feels like it could snap if bent, sat or stepped on.

I’m not a big fan of customising my gaming equipment to advertise a particular title, but if I were this $US15 faceplate seems like a pretty good option.

Modern Warfare 2 Combat Controller Camo was developed and produced by Mad Catz for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 10. Retails for $US14.99. A camo PlayStation 3 faceplate was given to us by Mad Catz for reviewing purposes. Played several games for several hours with the faceplate snapped onto a controller.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

The Wii moved more than a half a million million units to consumers in the United States last month, according to the NPD Group. That’s up from the 462,800 it moved in September and more than enough to best its closest competitor, the Nintendo DS.

Sony’s September to October performance was less fortunate, dropping from 491,800 to 320,600. On the Microsoft side, things were less worse, with Xbox 360 sales dipping from 352,600 in September to 249,700 in October. Without the sales boosting power of Halo 3: ODST, that puts Microsoft in fourth place in last month’s ranking.

Here’s how October treated console makers Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, according to NPD, whose reporting period ran from 10/4 to 10/31, a four week span compared to September’s five week span.

• Wii – 506,900
• Nintendo DS – 457,600
• PlayStation 3 – 320,600
• Xbox 360 – 249,700
• PSP – 174,600
• PlayStation 2 – 117,800

US consumers spent $US380.74 million on video game hardware last month, down 23 per cent from October 2008. While that’s not good — not good at all — there is a faint silver lining, according to NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier.

“The video games industry suffered another decline this month as compared to last October,” Frazier points out, adding “This is the third best October on record, behind October 2007 and October 2008.”

Frazier points to the Wii and Xbox 360 as “decreasing the most compared to October 2008″.

And, putting reporting period windows into perspective, Frazier outlines the positives from October.

“Compared to last month, which was a five-week month as compared to four weeks this month, Wii, PSP and NDS sales increased on an average sales per week basis, while the PS3 and Xbox 360 declined,” she says.

“On a year-to-date basis, only the Xbox 360 and the NDS have realised unit sales increases over the same time frame last year,” Frazier said, find a bit more silver. “While overall portable hardware unit sales are down, dollar sales are up thanks to an increase in the average selling price of portable hardware generated by the higher price points of the new portable systems and bundles.”

Thanks to the NPD Group for this month’s info.

Sure I looked uncomfortable using my Ki to move stuff around in a game, but it was… neatish. But is it $US300 neatish?

Emotiv Systems is rolling out a limited edition version of their Epoc PC controller, which uses sensors to “tune into electronic signals produced by the brain”, on December 21 for $US299. The fact that it’s a limited roll-out and that there’s no mention of the games designed specifically for the device gives me major pause.

If you’re interested in this tech, I’d say hold off until other early adopters have worked out the kinks for you. And if you must, must, must have this now, go watch the video of me trying it before you buy.

Epoc [Emotiv]

Media Create’s tally of PSPgo sales in Japan was 29,109 — about what we were expecting — good enough for a fourth place showing. Enough to just barely outsell the Wii this past week but a contribution that puts the PlayStation family in charge of more than half of the week’s total hardware sales. And look! It’s brought a little purple to the pie chart. Welcome, purple.

PlayStation 3 sales were up considerably from the week prior, probably thanks to the release of Bayonetta in Japan, with the Wii and Xbox 360 seeing smaller percentage gains. Numbers in list form, right after this.

The bestselling console hardware in Japan for the week of October 26 to November 1 is….

• Nintendo DSi – 37,517
• PlayStation 3 – 36,061
• PSP – 34,911
• PSP go – 29,109
• Wii – 28,888
• Nintendo DS Lite – 6902
• Xbox 360 – 6047
• PlayStation 2 – 1966

Numbers courtesy of Media Create.

That single day of sales doesn’t tell us too much about the PSPgo’s reception in Japan, considering Enterbrain only tracked one day, November 1, as part of its weekly sales monitoring window. As for how that compares to weekly figures, the most recent data we have is from sales tracker Media Create, which put non-go PSP sales at 32,865 for the week of October 19 to 25.

We’ll have to see how the rest of the week shakes down, but won’t have that info for a while, since Media Create’s window tracks the same period

Enterbrain did note that the PSP had sold 12,797,180 units in Japan since the console’s launch in December of 2004.

The latter likely has Forza Motorsport 3 to thank for its jump in sales. And though the Wii may have been harder in sales than its nearest competitor, the still strong PlayStation 3—which pulls further away from the Wii this week—a little bit more than half of the chart belongs to Nintendo platforms.

Will the announcement of the Nintendo DSi LL have an effect on DS/DSi sales on next week’s chart? And what colour will we use to represent the third DS platform in the pie when it ships?!

• Nintendo DSi – 42,199
• PSP – 32,865
• PlayStation 3 – 29,977
• Wii – 25,917
• Nintendo DS Lite – 6,550
• Xbox 360 – 4,470
• PlayStation 2 – 1,951