Thread: DSi XL Outsells PSP Go in Japan

Nintendo and Sony both unleashed upgraded hardware upon the handheld video game market this fall, and we have some preliminary sales data showing how the two competitors stack up against one another. In one corner, the jumbo-sized DSi XL seems geared towards older gamers. Furnished in a dull metallic rose and sporting two easy-to-read screens, it is sure to appeal to the Brain-Age demographic more than the playground Pokemon set. It also comes with a very adult-looking stylus, and all of the functionality of the current DSi hardware (read more about the DSi XL here). The DSi XL won't come stateside until later in 2010.

In the other corner, we have Sony's PSP Go, which we are of course already familiar with. It is worth mentioning here that the download-only PSP Go is clearly intended to appeal to a very different group of consumers: younger, more mobile and hip the the whole digital purchase model. It is also a fair bit more expensive than the competing Nintendo DSi.

Which one emerged victorious during the first week of sales in Japan? The answer might surprise you. While we would have put our money firmly behind the Sony hardware given its meteoric success in Japan, the victory actually goes to the DSi phatty.

Japanese retail tracking company Media Create reports that during its first week on sale in Japan, the Nintendo DSi XL managed to sell a whopping 100,553 units at retail. Total sales across all members of the DS family came to 137,674, showing that there was intense interest in this new machine. A second company, Enterbrain, also confirms these sales numbers.

By contrast, the PSP Go sold only 28,000 units in Japan during its first week on sale, and last week the flip-screen device sold only 4574 units.

It seems that in Japan at least, the Nintendo DS still reigns supreme, no matter what flavor it comes in.