TOKYO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Sales of Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS) Wii game console and Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation Portable handheld player tripled last week in Japan, driven by price cuts and launches of major software titles, a research firm said. Keen to stir up sluggish demand ahead of the critical year-end shopping season, Nintendo slashed the price of the Wii by 20 percent and Sony cut the price of its PSP by 15 percent, both on Oct. 1.

Sales were also boosted by Sony's launch last week of the PSP version of its popular driving game "Gran Turismo", and Nintendo's release of "Wii Fit Plus", the sequel to its blockbuster home fitness game, "Wii Fit".

Sony sold about 49,000 units of its PSP in the week ended Sunday, up from 15,000 units a week earlier, while sales of the Wii came to around 32,000 units, compared with 10,500 units in the previous week, Ascii Media Works said.

Shares in Sony rose 2.9 percent to 2,505 yen and Nintendo gained 0.5 percent to 21,840 yen, compared to a 1.1 percent rise for the Nikkei average .N225. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUST27933520091007

not much gain for wii. any ps3 numbers?

i wonder how much PS3 will do this week ,,,

can it beat wii in japan?

Nice numbers this week. PSP had a much needed increase, as did Wii. Wii=PS3 this week?

I think Wii and PS3 will be at a virtual tie for the coming weeks until NSMB Wii comes out in Japan, then Wii will start to take off and distance itself again.

wow awful wii sales imo.....only 32K

I was hoping at the least 50K

if PS3 beats wii this week.....well damn!

wait so the sales of PS3 after price cut are 10'000% and Wii's are 300%? dissapointing IMO, even though the Wii price cut was much more short term.. 32k is NOT alot compared to 150k

PS3 had a $100 price cut and redesign, which is in another leagure versus just a $50 price cut.