Xbox Japan sees 157% growth in the last year

The numbers aren't Earth shattering -- or cause for a sweater in the pits of Hell -- but Xbox 360 has found a small niche in Japan. Famitsu Marketing data (via GameDaily) outlines that the Xbox 360 has seen a year-to-year growth of an impressive 157% during the first seven months of the year.

Before we start to prep our Sony eulogy for Japanese newspapers we should keep in mind that a growth of 157% on an already small group isn't much to brag about but Microsoft is hopeful for their future in the region. According to data from Famitsu the console has sold 748,992 units since its release in Japan and Microsoft hopes to crack the million units sold milestone, "as soon as possible." The spike in sales is in large part to the exclusive debut releases of the role-playing titles Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery. The lifetime hardware sales numbers for each platform (and handheld) can be found after the jump.

[via Joystiq]
Lifetime unit sales (source: Famitsu):

• DS Lite: 17,080,747
• PSP: 10,181,888
• DS: 6,449,206
• Wii: 6,826,612
• PS3: 2,369,484
• Xbox 360: 748,992