Japanese hardware sales, May 12 - May 18: Déjà vu edition

PSP. Wii. DS Lite. PS3. PS2. Xbox 360. Much like the enigmatic sequence of numbers from "Lost", we can't seem to escape this series of console eponyms. With only minor variations to the lineup (mainly a position switch between Nintendo systems), that's been the pecking order for console sales in Japan for nearly two months. Sure, you could rationalize that fact by pointing out that Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G is still selling like gold-plated Pocky, or that everyone in Japan already owns three or four DS Lites, or that most games released on the 360 don't really appeal to Japanese gamers -- but we know there's something more sinister at work.

Could this seemingly innocuous pattern actually herald the movements of our discreet mechanical overlords, as revealed in "The Matrix"? Could Japan be stuck in some kind of temporal rift, causing them to repeat one week over and over again? Or could it be simpler than that -- perhaps the nation of Japan is trying to send us, the trackers of their sales charts, some sort of code. Let's see... "Pallid Westerners, Don't Listen to the Putrid Production of Xanadu." No, that can't be it -- everyone already knows to avoid that nightmare-on-rollerskates. What about "Porpoises and Whales Delight in Leaving Private Pictures in our Xeroxes." No, sea creatures aren't known for acts of office vulgarity.

Oh, wait a minute, we think we've cracked it: "Please, We Don't Like Purchasing or Playing Xbox 360s." Well of course you don't! We didn't need to go all Robert Langdon to glean that valuable piece of information!

- PSP: 70,536 19,348 (21.53%)
- Wii: 41,572 25,736 (38.24%)
- DS Lite: 34,905 16,323 (31.86%)
- PS3: 7,701 353 (4.38%)
- PS2: 7,022 422 (5.92%)
- Xbox 360: 1,474 196 (13.56%)

[Source: Media Create]

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