It was almost guaranteed not to last. The PlayStation 3’s Wii-thrashing tenure at the top of the Japanese software charts, we mean...

What a difference a week makes. This time seven days ago we were heralding the resurgence of the Playstation 3 and busily preparing an obituary for the Wii, which appeared to be in terminal decline. However, the latest Media Create figures for the week ending April 26th show a near 40% improvement in Wii sales, while the PS3 is back in third place behind the PSP and DSi. Herewith the new figures, last week’s in brackets:

PSP – 41,187 (40,065)
DSi – 37,395 (38,287)
PS3 – 23,351 (62,527)
Wii – 18,439 (13,221)
Xbox 360 – 7,016 (8,652)
DS Lite – 6,374 (6,438)
PS2 – 4,524 (4,230)

The PlayStation 3’s reversal of fortunes is all down to the Final Fantasy XIII demo - in other words pretty much everyone who wanted it has now got it. However the sharp spike in sales showed that there’s a sizeable appetite for the PS3 and it rather indicates that all hell will break loose when the full game finally launches. Against that, it’s heartening to see Wii sales enjoying a slight rebound – they may yet enjoy a spike of their own too, particularly if the new ‘Wii-no-Ma’ video download service takes off.