A busy week saw the release of sales data from two major markets: The April NPD sales numbers for the US and Canada and the weekly Media Create sales data for Japan.

Following the release of both Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, it is hardly a surprise that the Nintendo DS continues to lead the US sales charts with Wii closely trailing behind. Wii's increased sales could also indicate a higher availability due to increased supply. Morevoer, April also saw the old generation console, PlayStation2, selling again better than Microsoft's next-gen effort, the Xbox360. Especially noteworthy is that Sony's PlayStation 3 sales dipped below the 100K mark for the first time ever. At this point it seems that the higher price point, compared to its competitors, is indeed severly hampering its sales appeal to consumers.

The Canadian sales charts are also led by two Nintendo products, the home console Wii and the handheld Nintendo DS. As mentioned before, higher Wii sales could indicate an increased production capability on Nintendo's part, but so far it is still too early to tell. The PlayStation 3 is losing ground, now even selling less than the GBA. On the other hand PlayStation 2 continues to enjoy good sales, even outpacing Microsoft's Xbox360.

As expected this week saw slower sales following the Golden Week boost in sales in the previous weeks, even pushing the Sony's PlayStation 3 below the 10K mark. Moreover, the firmly established pecking order of DS, Wii and PSP sales remains unchanged. PlayStation2 continues to sell better than its next-gen successor, PS3.

Overall, the Nintendo DS continues to be the leader in worldwide sales in terms of hardware units sold per month. Furthermore, Nintendo's latest effort in the home console market, Wii, seems to have established itself in the second place. Interestingly, PS3's overall lacklustre sales have rendered Sony incapable to close to the gap to its competitor in the HD console segment, Microsoft's Xbox360, the current market leader. It seems that the higher price point and lack of software seems to constrain PS3's sales. Additionally, the still strong appeal of its predecessor, the PS2, might be a contributing factor.