Enterbrain has detailed Japanese hard/software sales figures for the first half of the year. Seems that Nintendo has a rival in the handheld market…

That’s the PSP, of course. Sony’s handheld may not match the DS in total lifetime sales - it has less than half the user base, in fact. However it’s been nipping at the DS’ heels since the beginning of the year, and totally stomping on its toes in more recent months thanks to blockbusters such as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and Phantasy Star Portable. The PSP is also finding favour in Japan thanks to its nifty multimedia capabilities. The end result is that the PSP has outsold the DS in the first half of this year. Who knew!

But, like we say, lifetime sales paint a more familiar picture and Nintendo may yet reclaim its crown when the newly enhanced (and irresistible) DSi launches in November. In any case Nintendo is pretty much cleaning up elsewhere, with the Wii outpacing the PS3 at a rate of around 3:1 and leaving the 360 eating dust. They’re not doing so badly in terms of software sales either. Yes, it’s business as usual, as these figures illustrate. First half-year sales first, lifetime sales in brackets:

Hardware
DS (inc. DS/DS Lite): 1,314,919 (23,484,680)
PSP: 1,583,731 (10,157,757)
Wii: 105,174 (6,800,753)
PS3: 352,457 (2,361,949)
360: 138,740 (741,298)

Software
Mario Kart Wii: 1,744,387 (1,744,387)
Monster Hunter Portable 2ndG: 1,602,386 (2,425,651)
Pokémon Platinum: 1,481,725 (1,481,725)
Dragon Quest V: 1,152,229 (1,152,229)
Wii Fit: 845,238 (2,607,431)