Wii Continues Dominance in Japan

Nintendo's Wii console continues to be the surprise success in the next-generation console race, outselling the Sony PlayStation 3 by a two-to-one margin in Japan during the month of January.

Only 148,000 PS3s sold during the month, compared with 405,000 Wii consoles, Japanese gaming magazine Enterbrain said Tuesday. Sony's lackluster success in a region normally considered its strongest again brings up questions of the console's overall success.

The company has repeatedly maintained that shipments of the console are ramping up -- most recently saying 1.84 million shipped worldwide before the end of 2006 -- however sales numbers from analyst firms have just not added up to those numbers.

Scattered, although unconfirmed, reports have been received of PS3 consoles actually sitting on shelves, being passed by for the cheaper Xbox 360 and Wii consoles. Price may actually be the problem in Japan as well.

The base model PS3 sells for 49,980 yen ($416 USD) in Japan, compared to 29,800 yen ($246 USD) for the base Xbox 360 and 25,000 yen ($207 USD) for the Wii. Enterbrain said it believed the much lower price was helping sales.

1.4 million Wiis have sold in Japan, over double the 614,000 PS3s sold. Both consoles launched in November 2006.