Japanese hardware sales, Sept. 21 - Sept. 27: Diminishing returns edition

Okay, Japanese game consumers. It's time we had a heart to heart. Last week, Enterbrain analyzed the Japanese hardware and software sales figures for the first half of fiscal '09, and ... well, let's just say the numbers were pretty grim. We certainly understand that times are kinda tight -- as made evident by the surplus of red arrows witnessed this year -- but let's take a moment to step back, observe the big gaming industry movements from the past six months, and illustrate how much you guys dropped the ball.

Seriously, in the past six months, Japan has seen the release of a new Dragon Quest game, a new Monster Hunter game, two new Pokémon games, a sleeker version of the PS3 and a veritable rainbow of new color choices for most of our weekly contenders. What's gotten into you, Japan? Has your interest shifted away from video games? What's your new area of expertise -- tell us, so we can start tracking the sales of whatever that may be instead.

Oh, who're we kidding. The release of Final Fantasy XIII (and the accompanying Squeenix-branded PS3) will more than make up for this slow half-year. Go ahead and keep doing whatever it is you're doing that isn't purchasing video games. Come December 17, you'll flock back like moths drawn to a spiky-haired, turn-based flame.

- DSi: 63,342 2,731 (4.13%)
- PS3: 39,960 11,095 (21.73%)
- PSP: 17,334 3,739 (17.74%)
- DS Lite: 15,057 1,502 (11.08%)
- Wii: 11,731 4,967 (29.75%)
- Xbox 360: 4,854 111 (2.24%)
- PS2: 2,347 376 (13.81%)

[Source: Media Create]

See: The diminishing archives