The latest Media Create figures show a double victory for the Playstation 3 - top of the hardware sales charts and totally owning the software countdown thanks to chopsocky brawler Yakuza 3.

We’re struggling to recall the last time Sony achieved such a feat with the PS3 - if it ever has. We’re more than used to seeing Nintendo do the double and even the Xbox 360 has enjoyed a brief moment in the spotlight recently, thanks to Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope. But, as we’ve seen before, Japanese gamers like nothing better than getting behind their homegrown heroes, and we can’t blame them for that. Hence Yakuza 3, with its domestic setting and open-world gangsta gameplay, must have been a no-brainer.

Anyway, here’s the Japanese software top five. The lifetime sales figures (in brackets) say it all:

1. Yakuza 3 - PS3 (372,301)
2. Shin Sengoku Musou: Multi Raid - PSP (219,139)
3. Mario and Luigi RPG3 - DS (52,294)
4. One piece unltd cruise. Episode 2 - Wii (45,309)
5. Game Centre CX - DS (43,711)

If you’re wondering about the missing ‘big guns‘, Star Ocean 4 has dropped to eight and Street Fighter IV seems to have fallen out of favour altogether, at this week’s 28. Who’d have thunk it?

Hardware-wise, Yakuza 3’s success has resulted in a surging demand for the PS3. It was a close-run thing with the DSi, but, as Sony would doubtless crow, there are no prizes for second place. And what’s happened to the Wii’s sales this week?:

PS3 - 36,513
DSi - 35,827
PSP - 35,588
Wii - 17,876
Xbox 360 - 11,795
DS Lite - 11,774
PS2 - 5,099