Japanese hardware sales: A surprise ending!

The Japanese hardware sales figures for the week ranging from 30 January to 5 February have finally shown their numerical faces. Much like the week before, we have to warn you of an impending and soul-shattering shock. Unlike last week, however, we're not being sarcastic this time. Oh no.

The ranking, according to number of units sold, is as follows:

• PSP: 25,905
• DS: 25,321
• PS2: 24,780
• GBA SP: 5,649
• GB Micro: 3,199
• Xbox 360: 2,194
• Gamecube: 2,138
• GBA: 115
• Xbox: 101
  

Didn't see that one coming, did you? Sony's sleek multimedia machine beat the DS by 584 units, no doubt in an effort to spite us after our rampant gloating last time. It should be noted, however, that the DS didn't lose this week because the PSP sold more units (it actually sold considerably less), but because DS sales took an unexpected plunge. In fact, a comparison to last week's numbers shows that DS sales fell by almost 76%. Why the big drop? More hardware shortages (again) brought on by last week's stellar sales and the impending release of the DS Lite may very well be to blame. Either that, or more people finally realized just how wonderful Lumines is.