So, next week, Wii sales up, PS3 sales down, Wii above PS3.
And if not?
Well, we will see.

Also, in 2004 market was more saturated with PS2, than in 2003, that could be a reason.

Anyway, the one thing is pretty much clear.
PS3 slim + Pricecut + FFXIII = HUGE PS3 sales in Japan during Christmas.

Not sure about Wii, which still couldn`t sell even 60k.

Point taken, but still the PS3 slim is a new model, yes, but also a price drop. I think that combined it will produce the new model spike effect in addition to significantly higher weekly sustained sales than if it were just a new model at the same price point as with the PSP 2000 and 3000.

it seems that the nintedo ds is unbeatable.

What about the states? does anyone have the numbers for the states?
OT: I'm sure the wii will be fine in japan.

@ioi That's a rather bad comparison though. The PS2 in Japan basically existed in a vacuum. The competition that gen was absolutely laughable. The PS2 outsold the GC over 3:1 in 2003 and that was the Gamecube's best year in Japan. This gen there's actual competition, at least in the PS3, certainly not in the 360 though.

This, its rather crazy.

Wii 150k

PS3 85K

360 70K

so so far we have:

Wii: 182K

PS3: 120K

360: 74K

PSP WORLD WIDE: 211K

we are missing others,

I'm happy PS3 held, but I wished Wii to do more and to beat PS3 for at least a pair of weeks. If i'm not wrong, though, cut in Japan was smaller than in America and Others, this could partially explain the effect, big as relative increase, small as absolute value.

Edit: Or not? Am I mistaking PS3 cut for Wii's one?

The fact is --

- The system is 3 years old and still doesn't have a big-budget RPG out for it.

- Monster Hunter 3 was the first big third party game for the system and that took almost 3 years to come to market.

- Nintendo themselves have had a mediocre release schedule for the prior year with Animal Crossing + Wii Music last fall and nothing notable for the first six months of this year. Basically since they release Mario Kart Wii a year and a half ago they haven't had a blockbuster title for the system.

- Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus while big name sequels do not bring the "freshness" and "newness" to the table that their originals brought, which was probably a big part of the appeal. So the sequels are selling great, but they are not driving hardware sales as much.

I think all that essentially has caught up to the Wii. They will probably have to regroup next year and see if Wii Vitality Sensor -- which is a completely new kind of idea can re-ignite sales I think (Japan is a stressed out society ... well so is the US, but Japan especially, so that could take off if done right). Nintendo needs to take the third party thing more seriously.

It's unacceptable to have a platform go THREE YEARS without any major third party support and think nothing bad could happen. That cannot ever happen again ... sometimes unfortunately, Nintendo has to learn things the hard way before they change.

I think Wii 2 could be coming sooner to Japan than the US/Europe too if the Wii does not shake off these doldrums. Obviously sales will pick up for the holidays (even the GameCube sold well during the holidays in Japan), but if its back to struggling come January, I think Nintendo may have to acknowledge they may need a mulligan on the Japanese market. 

It will be interesting to see what the Wii's tracking is with its price drop.

After all, there was not a lot of advance notice on the Wii drop ... and there are signs that it is selling in some markets better in the second week than in the first. Meanwhile, PS3 sales have been dropping each week after the price drop and slim introduction.

This will take some time to sort out.

Mike from Morgantown