Even Nintendo reps will admit that the GameCube didn’t live up to their own expectations or the level of hype they tried to put behind it, but what’s going on with the 3DS might end up making the Cube look stellar. Despite being an icon of the game industry, Nintendo is struggling to get its newest system off shelves and into homes; at six months old, its sales are less than half those of a system six years old. In the first week of August, Japanese system sales show the PSP outselling the 3DS by well over 8-to-1.
Here’s how the most recent Media Create hardware chart looked:
PSP: 35,619
PS3: 18,338
Wii: 17,004
DS: 8,178
3DS: 4,132
PS2: 1,529
Xbox 360: 1,406
The PSP is currently on pace for its 2011 Japanese sales figures to double those of 2010 — an odd feat for a system supposedly on its way out the door. With several big games looming in the future, namely JRPGs such as Black Rock Shooter: The Game, Final Fantasy Type-0, Grand Knights History, Growlanser IV, Makai Kingdom Portable, Ragnarok: Princess of Light and Dark, and 7th Dragon 2020, it’s certainly got the culturally relevant software to keep it afloat for a while.
[Source]
