PS3 Falls to Last Place in Japan

[Wired Cous]

IGN: PS3 Falls to Last Place in Japan

US, October 3, 2008 - The times just got tougher for the PlayStation 3 over in Japan. While the system has been last place in the current generation console race since the 360 price drop back in early September, this week it managed to get beaten by the PS2, placing it dead last amongst the consoles that Media Create tracks.

For the week covering 9/22 to 9/28, DS Lite was tops in hardware with 57,847 units. Wii sold 26,314 units, about level with the PSP, which, perhaps due to demand for the upcoming PSP-3000 model, dropped to 25,671 units.

The real area of interest was in the bottom three pack. As has been the case for a few weeks now, 360 was at top with 11,291 units. The PS2 sold 9,848 units, a slight jump that may have been attributed to the release of Super Robot Taisen Z. PS3 closed off the list at 8,275 units.

In software, PS2 took the lead for the week with Super Robot Taisen Z reaching 366,493 units in its debut week. Pokemon Platinum continued to sell well, taking second with 195,479 units. Rhythm Heaven placed third as it approaches its third month on the market, with 65,257 units.

A couple of newbies followed. Sega's World Destruction, heavily promoted through commercials, events, and cross media projects, placed fourth with 55,938 units. Kinniku Man Muscle Grand Prix 2 Tokumori debuted at 5th on the PS2 with 35,240 units.

Closing out the top ten were Dragon Ball DS (Bandai Namco, DS) with 29,879 units, followed by Cross Edge (Compile Hearts, PS3) at 22,386 units, Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) at 21,261, Aquanaut's Holiday (SCE, PS3) at 17,646 units, and Disaster Day of Crisis (Nintendo, Wii) at 14,310 units. Cross Edge, Aquanaut, and Disaster were new.