DSi LL gives Nintendo Japanese bump

By Robert Purchese Published 27 November, 2009

While Left 4 Dead 2 does suprisingly well.

Nintendo wrestled dominance of the Japanese hardware market back from Sony this week, launching its new DSi LL to enviable success.

Regional data collector Media Create counted 100,553 sales on 22nd November - one day after the handheld's launch. That's more than Sony's PSPgo has sold in Japan (54,102) since it went on sale on 1st November.

Add DSi (32,070) and DS Lite (5051) sales and Nintendo's handheld posted a region-leading total of 137,674. The PSP (32,752) and PSPgo (4574) combined to sell 37,326 units.

The PS3 (34,752) was still ahead of the Wii (32,844), and the Xbox 360 (4085) and PS2 (2024) were still miles behind everything else.

Interestingly, Valve's infectious tour-de-force Left 4 Dead 2 managed a Japanese software debut in sixth, which is pretty impressive considering what it's up against.

Other newcomers this week were Taiko Drum Master Wii 2 (5th), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (9th) and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (14th).

The week's top-selling game was Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver on DS (55,361), which climbed over the three million lifetime sales mark in the process.

Best-sellers Tomodachi Collection (2nd) Wii Fit Plus (3rd), Inazuma Eleven 2 (4th), PES 2010 (7th), J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 6: Pride of J (8th) and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (10th) rounded out the top 10.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (27) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • malexous #1 2 years ago

    The thing people seem to miss with the new DSi is that it is not primarily aimed at people like us.

    Nintendo did their research and found that people with poor eyesight (particularly the senile) would benefit from even bigger screens than the original DSi offers.

    Fact = -
    Edited by 5 at 21/03/10 @ 21:21

  • Penguinzoot #2 2 years ago

    Valve's infectious tour-de-force Left 4 Dead 2 managed a Japanese software debut in sixth

    Japan loves zombies :) Actually zombies are pretty popular everywhere!

    /cocks combat shotgun
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/09 @ 15:17

  • miiiguel #3 2 years ago

    Nintendo did their research and found that people with poor eyesight (particularly the senile) would benefit from even bigger screens than the original DSi offers.

    I don't have poor eyesight and I'm not senile yet, and I love them big screens. I will get on of those LL's.

  • Razz #4 2 years ago

    My LL is coming tomorrow, can't wait! ^_^

  • miiiguel #5 2 years ago

    Where did you get it from ?

  • Burkey123 #6 2 years ago

    Did Sony advertise the PSPGo at all!!??

  • Razz #7 2 years ago

    @ miiguel

    eBay, was gonna use onilne importers but thought screw it and bought of some dude in Hong Kong.

  • Toadie48 #8 2 years ago

    I want a DSi LL, I even had acdream about getting one lol. But Then again I had a dream about getting the regular DSi when that launched last yr.

  • miiiguel #9 2 years ago

    @ Raz: Thanks, going to check it out. I use to avoid ebay, not really sure why, but I bought a ZuneHD a couple weeks ago and it all went very well, so I might have beem wrongly prejudiced.

  • markymark22 #10 2 years ago

    It's actually a great question, how come sony are not advertising the pspgo?? Adverts with the psp in different colours yes but not even a mention of the newest member to the family. Strange.

  • makeamazing #11 2 years ago

    They have been advertising the PSP3000 in the uk, the MileyCirus pack or whatever it was, but that was about 3 or 4 weeks ago.

  • feistycheese #12 2 years ago

    Penguinzoot

    I agree, Japans got a fascination with anything scary, freaky or even slightly undead.

    /shotguns combat cock

  • daku #13 2 years ago

    Are the DSi and DS LL still region free?! I know their app/game store isn't, but cartridges?
    I have a DS and a DS Lite, but would still love to get my hands on the LL. But if that means having to ditch my US or JAP games, I'll have to give it a miss.

  • malexous #14 2 years ago

    daku, both DSi and DSi LL/XL still play DS cartridges from any region. I don't know about DS cartridges with DSi specfic content, though.

  • Ryze #15 2 years ago

    PSPgo: Smash hit!

  • Phishfood #16 2 years ago

    Left 4 Dead 2 in sixth, that is a suprise.

  • Lusterpurge #17 2 years ago

    Someone's been having fun with that minus button.

  • MDL199 #18 2 years ago

    Glad to see the PS3 leading the way in Japan. Hopefully the Wii is on the wane and will become last years fad.

  • septimus #19 2 years ago

    Everyone in Japan must have at least 3 of each DS by now.

  • IronCladChicken #20 2 years ago

    I'm with MDL199 - I can't enjoy playing games unless my console is selling the most units

  • smelly #21 2 years ago

    >Glad to see the PS3 leading the way in Japan

    OH DEAR!

    There are some REALLY sad people around arent there? Oooh, im sooo glad machine X is selling 5% better than machine Y. Sheesh, when you next look in the mirror and wonder why you're still a virgin - have a serious think about it... And if you still cant figure it out - take a long hard think about what you just posted you sad loser.

  • miggoh #22 2 years ago

    Hmm... PS3 has been beating Wii since price cut + slim release in Japan, but now the sales spike seems to have evened out. At the moment total sales of PS3 are approx 4 million and total sales of Wii are well over 8 million in Japan.

    I don't think PS3 is going to catch Wii in Japan anymore. I mean, for example if PS3 would start selling 20,000 units more per week than Wii regularly from this point forward (which is unlikely), it would take 4-5 years for it to catch up. FFXIII is going to have impact for sure, but then again release of DQX will pretty much counter effect that impact.

  • TonyHarrison #23 2 years ago

    Japan is completely out of sync with the rest of the world right now, considering the Wii did over 700k worldwide in the latest figures (Sony and MS were way back in the 300k and 200k range respectively), and that number is only going to grow in the next released figures which will include US Black Friday sales.

  • NotSoSlim #24 2 years ago

    @messiah

    That's what donnie said lol simple facts are the PS3 has stayed at 30k for 2 months and after FF isn't GT5 coming out???

  • MDL199 #25 2 years ago

    smelly
    29/11/09 @ 08:25
    ignore poster | #25 -1 You buried this comment Comment below viewing threshold Show
    >Glad to see the PS3 leading the way in Japan

    OH DEAR!

    There are some REALLY sad people around arent there? Oooh, im sooo glad machine X is selling 5% better than machine Y. Sheesh, when you next look in the mirror and wonder why you're still a virgin - have a serious think about it... And if you still cant figure it out - take a long hard think about what you just posted you sad loser.
    ============================================================ ==============


    Smelly, you're probably the saddest little tw@t on these message boards forever trolling and pissing people off with your smart ass little quips!

    You're a brave little boy hiding behind your keyboard but in the real world you're probably a scared and pathetic little nerd who only gets his sexual kicks from a sly w@nk over the latest Mario or Zelda game.

  • MDL199 #26 2 years ago

    IronCladChicken
    28/11/09 @ 16:29

    I'm with MDL199 - I can't enjoy playing games unless my console is selling the most units
    ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------


    Here's the weird thing about me I actually like to see the better consoles and better games selling the most units I get the feeling of a sense of justice in the gaming world. Strange eh?

  • IronCladChicken #27 2 years ago

    @MDL199
    Then it's a good job you are here to decide for everyone which is the best console and which are the best games - Otherwise people might start making their own decisions about what they enjoy playing ;)