Best-Selling Video Game Systems of Japan so Far in 2009

The Japanese video game market is different from the west. Video game systems that are popular in North America might not fare as well in the east. As a whole, the market has been down in Japan, especially on the home console market. So which video game systems managed to stay the course during the economic rescission? Here are the top five best-selling video game systems in Japan so far in 2009.

5. Xbox 360
Despite Microsoft's best efforts, the Xbox 360 is still a distant fifth in terms of hardware sales during 2009 so far. After the minimal impact of the Xbox in Japan, Microsoft decided to take a more aggressive approach with the Xbox 360 by working with Japanese developers in addition to aggressive pricing. While the performance of the Xbox 360 is a marked improvement over the original, the consumers in Japan are still ignoring Microsoft's system for the most part.

4. Playstation 3
At one point in 2009, the Playstation 3 was outselling the Nintendo Wii for the year in Japan. This is due to several big game releases like Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Yakuza 3 and Final Fantasy XIII demo. Hardware sales have slowed recently, however, due to the lack of big titles. Still, the Playstation 3 is within striking distance to become the best-selling home console in Japan by the end of the year, especially if Sony decided to drop the price.

3. Nintendo Wii
The Nintendo Wii lost plenty of momentum in 2009 compared to 2008. The lack of big releases really slowed down the hardware sales for the Nintendo Wii. Fortunately for Nintendo, help came with Wii Sports Resorts in late June of this year. Even then, the popular game didn't help boost hardware sales. Like the Playstation 3, the Nintendo Wii may also need a price cut sometime this year.

2. PSP
Thanks in large part to the continued success of Monster Hunter, the PSP is selling briskly so far in Japan during 2009. The great hardware sales also resulted in improved software sales. As a result, development support for the PSP has never been better. Not to mention that the newest model, the PSP Go, hasn't been released yet. So expect the PSP to perform quite well for the rest of 2009.

1. Nintendo DS
By far and away, the Nintendo DS is the best selling system so far this year in Japan. For awhile, however, the handheld system was sweating it out with the PSP. The release of the Nintendo DSi in late 2008 helped boost the Nintendo DS past the PSP. With the biggest game of 2009 in Japan, Dragon Quest IX, coming out for the system later in 2009, you can expect the Nintendo DS to stay on top of the competition for the rest of the year.