Shock: DS selling well in Japan

It's another one of those days. By now, you should know the drill. A new Japanese hardware sales chart emerges from the dark depths of an accountant's office and it paints a picture of a gargantuan DS trampling the citizens of Tokyo in a Godzilla-like display of might and ferocity. It's a pleasant image, to be sure, but after this week's sales numbers, we think we're slowly becoming desensitized.

Watch out, here come the numbers!

• Nintendo DS: 597,628 (Annual: 3,761,175)
• PlayStation Portable: 161,332 (Annual: 2,115,069)
• PlayStation 2: 97,475 (Annual: 1,890,200)
• GameCube: 36,646 (Annual: 260,601)
• Game Boy Advance SP: 35,764 (Annual: 680,265)
• Game Boy Micro: 19,261 (Annual: 403,854)
•  Xbox 360: 5,674 (Annual: 58,267)
•  Game Boy Advance: 906 (Annual: 24,960)
•  Xbox: 141 (Annual: 12,284)

Wow, just look at that. The DS outsold the PSP by more than 3 times and outsold the Xbox 360 by more than a factor of 100. What could be to blame for this uncanny success? Mass hypnosis? Unceasing blackmail? Good games? Nah, that couldn't be it.