Sony sees the PS3 gaining ground

THE PLAYSTATION 3 has overtaken the Nintendo Wii in the Japanese hardware sales chart, receiving a 38 per cent sales boost for the week ending November 11.

The PS3 more than trebled its previous week's sales, shifting 55,924 consoles.

The Nintendo DS continues to sit atop the chart, selling 78,884 units while the PSP remained largely unchanged selling 58,964 according to Media Create, via Gamesindustry.biz.

By contrast the Wii continued to slide, falling just under 10 per cent to 34,456 units, despite the recent release of the triple-A title Super Mario Galaxy.

PS3/PSP
Further sales boosts to the PS3 were discussed by Sony chairman and CEO Howard Stringer, after the company was reported to have sold more than 100,000 PS3 consoles in the week ending November 11, an increase of 250 to 300 per cent from the average weekly sales before the price drops.

According to an AP report, Sony said it was selling between 30,000 and 40,000 PS3 consoles per week prior to the October 18 price cut and introduction of the 40GB model.

In the week ending October 29, sales rose to 75,000. The next week, sales rose to more than 100,000.

"It's the breakthrough we've been anticipating," Stringer told Associated Press. "We've been holding our breath."

Gizmodo has some interesting clips to some Playstation Eye concepts, which are worth a look if you're anticipating the release of the PS3s native camera.

Xbox 360
Microsoft is also doing well in Japan - compared to the original Xbox. Microsoft's 360 has finally surpassed sales of the original Xbox - within two years.

Whilst Sony has been seeing good sales recently, the Simexchange October review report, based on information taken from the online prediction market simExchange, believes that the Xbox 360 will outsell the Playstation 3 in the US by almost 2-to-1 between now and the end of the year.

According to analyst Jesse Divnich the Xbox 360 will sell just over two million units, while the PS3 will sell just over one million - although the Wii and DS will trump them both handsomely, shifting 3.28 million and 2.86 million units respectively.

AnandTech has produced a very thorough report on the differences between the first-generation of Xbox 360s and the current crop of 65nm Falcon-based Xbox 360s.

The power consumption readings are worth a look by themselves.

Tech.co.uk has taken a look at what we should expect from Microsoft's next console, whilst it's all speculative, it's a fun read.

Wii/DS
According to a report by CVG, analysts at Pacific Crest Securities say their contacts have told them 'a refreshed DS is complete.'M< The new model is said to tote a larger screen and have a thinner body, with room for onboard storage, thanks to the removal of the GBA port.

In response to the analyst's claims that a new system was due in the very near future, the company said that the news was, "Rumour and speculation and we are not commenting further."

In the mean time you could mod your current DS Lite to look as stonkingly good as this.

We said Super Mario Galaxy was good - and Joystiq has confirmed it - the game is currently the highest rated game of all time on Game Rankings.

Those lucky Japanese gamers will be receiving another top gift from Nintendo soon. For Club Nintendo members with over 400 club points (earned via buying Nintendo products over the past year) they can receive a working Super Famicon attachment for the Wii. Pics here.

In a wide-ranging interview with Next Generation, Harrison shares some insight to the Wii shortages. "It takes about five months for us to increase the actual monthly rate of production," he says. "We're at a rate now worldwide of about 1.8 million Wiis produced every month, and that's going to sustain itself until we get on top of this."

The slowing sales in Japan may help the shortage issue further. µ