Price cuts fuel PSP and Wii sales in Japan

The PlayStation Portable and Nintendo Wii have seen sales almost triple following their respective price cuts in Japan.

PlayStation Portable sales rose to 51,215 this week, up from 17,334 the week prior, an increase which nearly resulted in the console outselling long-standing hardware number one the DSi, following the PSP 3000's 15 per cent price reduction to JPY 16,800 (USD 188). The PSPgo launches in Japan on November 1.

The Wii rose to number four in the chart, just below the PlayStation 3, with sales of 35,392 - an increase of over 200 per cent - up from 11,731 the week prior.

PlayStation 3 sales remained buoyant for another week, with 37,538 sold, down slightly from 39,960 achieved in the previous week.

Meanwhile, in Japan's software chart Nintendo scored another success story with Wi Fit Plus. The game entered the chart at number one with over 340,000 copies sold.

Other new entries to the top ten were Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryakusha at number two, Gran Turismo at number four, Macross Ultimate Frontier at number five, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 at number seven, and Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce at number nine.

Last week's number one, Tomodachi Collection, dropped to number six, while Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver remained near the top of the chart with 267,000 sales.

The full Media Create Japanese hardware chart for the week September 28-October 4 is as follows:

• 01 Nintendo DSi - 53,293
• 02 PlayStation Portable - 51,215
• 03 PlayStation 3 - 37,538
• 04 Nintendo Wii - 35,392
• 05 DS Lite - 10,661
• 06 Xbox 360 - 4344
• 07 PlayStation 2 - 2179

The full games chart for the week September 27-October 3 is as follows:

• 01 Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
• 02 Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryakusha (DS)
• 03 Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS)
• 04 Gran Turismo (PSP)
• 05 Macross Ultimate Frontier (PSP)
• 06 Tomodachi Collection (DS)
• 07 Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PS3)
• 08 Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
• 09 Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce (PS3)
• 10 Tales of Vesperia (PS3)