Handhelds in Japan have a knack for pulling off resurrections better than any religious figure ever could. It wasn't long ago that the Nintendo DS was slacking in both hardware and software sales. But, after the introduction of the revised DS Lite and a new price point, it hasn't been the same ever since. The Nintendo DS outsold every other unit by extremely distant margins.
Now, it looks like it's the PSP's turn to change things around. Much like the DS Lite, with the introduction of the slimmer, lighter PSP, new colors, and a new price-point, it simply hasn't been the same for the once struggling handheld. Where as the Sony PSP use to average anywhere between 35-50k sales on a weekly basis, it has averaged just over 142k units for the past seven weeks. Still, during that same seven week time frame, the Nintendo DS averaged 197k units sold. But despite that, it really looks like the PSP is slowly moving in on the DS.
Now the question is if/when will the PSP begin outselling the DS on a weekly basis. Only time will tell for now. In any case, below are the Japanese sales numbers for January 7th-13th. As you can see, the PSP and DS sold nearly identical numbers - especially when you consider there is a margin of error of +/- 1000 with these stats. The PS3 is holding in there, and fast approaching 2 million units sold in Japan. And the Wii continues to sell briskly, thanks to a desirable lineup of software.
Nintendo DS - 97,369
Sony PSP - 96,159
Nintendo Wii - 84,530
Sony PS3 - 38,907
Sony PS2 - 14,499
Xbox 360 - 4,690