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DS tops Japan's 2007 sales charts
Nintendo's dual-screen portable sells more than 7.1 million last year in island nation; Wii Sports is number-one software with 1.9 million units sold.
By Tom Magrino, GameSpot
Posted Jan 11, 2008 6:49 pm GMT
After three years and one complete redesign, the Nintendo DS is still one of the world's most sought-after gaming devices. The Associated Press reports that Nintendo's dual-screen portable was the best-selling hardware device for gaming in Japan, citing numbers issued earlier this week from Famitsu publisher and Japanese industry stat-tracker Enterbrain. According to Enterbrain's figures, the Nintendo DS reportedly sold 7.1 million units last year, bringing its lifetime-to-date total to 21 million in Japan alone.

At a little more than half of the DS's total, Nintendo's Wii took the runner-up slot in Japan's yearly hardware charts, shifting 3.6 million units in 2007. However, those numbers were undoubtedly impacted by Nintendo's inability to keep up with the insatiable demand for its console, which has seen supply constraints across the globe since launching in late 2006. To date, the Wii has sold 4.6 million in Japan.

Nintendo archrival Sony held the third and fourth slots for the year. In 2007, Sony reportedly sold 3 million PlayStation Portables and 1.2 million PlayStation 3s in Japan. Microsoft, which continues to struggle to gain footing in the Japanese market, fared far worse in the island nation, selling only 257,800 Xbox 360s in 2007 according to Enterbrain's numbers.

Unsurprisingly to those who follow Japan's weekly sales charts, Nintendo's Wii Sports took the 2007 software crown in Japan with sales of 1.9 million, reports the AP. Unlike most regions, Japanese gamers have been required to purchase the crowd-pleasing minigame compilation separately rather than receiving it packed in free with the Wii.

Citing Enterbrain's numbers, the AP reports that the Japanese gaming industry grew by 10 percent to 687.76 billion yen ($6.3 billion) in 2007.