I'm not sure, but could it be because of the growing amount of free WiFi spots and the PSP + Skype ?
That combination would make it a great mobile (video)phone

Godzilla destroyed a DS factory because he is to hardcoar for Nintendogs.

Well ,I dont think the PSP is falling in US and UE .In US for example it sold 243K units in US alone in february ,improving its January numbers and also improving last years numbers .

In UE the numbers are just a bit fake ...the PSP is selling really fast and has been in rupture of stock over the holidays and january and debut february and vgchartz still puts it toe to toe with the not-selling-at-all 360 .

For example in Spain the PSP numbers for 31 Dec were 1.8 million nearly 1.9 after Sony data citing GFK ,and this site continues to have it at 1.5 million .I think PSP is undertracked in Europe ,and its software vastly undertracked .The piratery is hurting a lot ,yes ,but that doesnt detract from the fact that we actually see the product moving in the stores .

Hardcore gamers are not the reason PSP sales have taken of so far as core gamers buy a lot of games - PSP software sales are still far worse than they should considering the big Japan install base. And the PSP isn´t more expensive than the DS in Japan, at least not significantly.

There are several reasons why Playstation Portable sales are rising:

- The PSP is a multimedia device just as much as it is a handheld, therefore Japanese gamers buy it to use all of its features, not only games

- The Slim and Lite model caused many gamers to upgrade to the new version of the handheld, added functionality additionally improved the value of the new model for the already existing userbase

- Monster Hunter sells to the "Pokemon - audience": Think of it as a Pokemon "in small"; good sales, great legs - the game surely sold a lot of systems, just like Pokemon did

- DS has hit a point of saturation in Japan and (even more important) it didn´t see a single price drop during its time on the market. Of course the system will still sell well but it will never see its 2006 / 2007 sales again.

- Pirating is easy on the PSP and many people do it, even in Japan

Add all of those reasons together and you know why the PSP is on the rise in Japan. Unfortunately it is too late now for the system to become market leader - even if its strong sales continue, DS software sales will always outpace it. Additionally Nintendo still has the possibility to drop the price of its handheld for the first time which would cause an increase in sales again.

 The only thing undertracked and underestimated on this site, Diomedes, is the influence of huge, faceless corporations on their respective supporters in certain videogame forums...

Oh, don't do that. You're doing so well. You're magnificant. Fight it.

Could be the hard hit economy.

After all... if money is going to be tight... why pass up on the "Free Game Machine".

That'd be my most likely guess anyway how's software going?

The economy lowers most people's opinion on what they consider "fair" for paying for games, therefore are more likely to pirate, and therefore are going to look towards what makes pirating easy.

Does Japan even have Skype? Last I heard they weren't getting it the same time as us because the microphones weren't up to standard. (Despite being the same ones we use.)  Last i looked there was no release date for Skype in Japan.

AKA, japanese telecom lobbyiests put pressure on them to not release it in Japan.

Did that change?

Even then Soriku. It's at like... 1 DS for every 5 people. (Granted lots of people upgraded to slim DS.)

It just can't go that much higher. Not EVERYONE loves videogames... even in Japan.

I don't see why the DS needs an "excuse" for its Japanese sales. Does not the PSP need a bigger "excuse" for its worldwide sales and current userbase?

It's the same thing as flaming the Wii for only outselling the PS3 and 360 combined, when it "should" have tripled their combined numbers.