Xbox 360 Beats PS3 in Weekly Japan Sales for 1st Time

Sales in Japan of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game console have exceeded those of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 for the first time on a weekly basis, a survey showed Friday.

According to the survey conducted by research firm Media Create Co. <2451>, Xbox 360 sales came to 17,673 units in the week to last Sunday, against 17,434 units for PS3.

Xbox 360 overtook PS3 as the second best-selling video game machine in Japan, Media Create said. Nintendo Co.'s <7974> Wii stayed the best-selling machine.

The Xbox 360 machine performed strongly in the latest week partly because Microsoft on Nov. 1 cut its price by up to 5,000 yen. In the preceding week, Xbox 360 sales totaled only 3,718 units.

Meanwhile, PS3 slumped due to a lack of blockbuster game software titles. SCE plans to launch a low-priced version of PS3 on Sunday.

Xbox 360 was launched in Japan in December 2005. PS3 was released in November 2006.