by CIO Staff

Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii Sales Pick Up

News
Dec 27, 20062 mins
Consumer Electronics

Sales of both the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles jumped in Japan during the second week of December, thanks to greater supplies of the machines from their respective manufacturers.

Nintendo’s Wii was the best-selling console for the week at 108,237 units, according to figures from Media Create. The retail market data provider ranked Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation 3 in second place among consoles at 70,942 units and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in third at 17,168 units.

The figures mean both the new consoles recorded their best week of sales in Japan yet, with the exception of the launch weeks.

Among software sales, games for the Wii easily outranked those for the PlayStation 3. Two games, “Wii Sports” and “Pokemon Battle Revolution,” made it into the top 10 with sales of 69,923 units and 67,607 units, respectively, for the week. The best-selling PlayStation 3 title was ranked at number 35 in the chart, which is dominated by games for the Nintendo DS handheld and PlayStation 2.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 saw sales drop during the week, but they were still relatively good for the year-old machine. During the week, sales of the machine totaled 17,168, Media Create said. That’s about half the amount sold the week earlier, but well above sales recorded in November. More than 35,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in the week from Dec. 4-10, thanks to the launch of the Blue Dragon video game.

The game was created by a famous Japanese game developer and had been eagerly awaited in Japan. To push sales of the console, Microsoft created a special edition with a Blue Dragon face plate and copy of the game bundled with the core edition console for the same price that the console usually sells.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)

Related Links:

  • Sony Sure It Will Reach PlayStation 3 Goals

  • Console War: Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

  • 600K Nintendo Wii Consoles Shipped in 8 Days

  • Microsoft Sticks to Xbox 360 Shipment Forecast

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