Japanese hardware sales, Aug. 17 - Aug. 23: Bottom drops out edition

The entire Japanese gaming hardware market was visited by the ghost of plummeting sales this week -- a natural side-effect from the waning of interest in the highly anticipated RPGs which hit the nation throughout the past month. However, no console took the brunt of the depreciation quite as hard as the PS3, which took an unfamiliar last place finish in this week's charts. You'll find it just below its last-gen brother, the PS2 -- which would likely be maniacally cackling right now, if it was equipped with the vocal chords required to do so.

Don't go hocking your Sony stock just yet -- the sizable drop can be attributed to the nation's anticipation for the PS3 Slim, which is set to rise like a phoenix on September 1. To continue our cryptozoological metaphors, the other consoles should level out like a winged chimera by that point -- except for the PSP, which may be strengthened like a minotaur with the Japanese release of Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. Also, the Xbox 360 will inexplicably be like a chupacabra. There's no reason for this observation. You're just going to have to trust us.

- DSi: 59,578 28,358 (32.25%)
- PSP: 27,187 12,695 (31.83%)
- Wii: 26,972 20,760 (43.49%)
- Xbox 360: 8,979 183 (2.00%)
- DS Lite: 5,735 2,186 (27.60%)
- PS2: 3,295 1,612 (32.85%)
- PS3: 2,052 3,892 (65.48%)

[Source: Media Create]

See: The cryptozoological archives