The Wii has topped the Japanese hardware chart for a subsequent week despite a rapid drop-off in unit numbers sold.

Units sales of Nintendo's console were 163,855 according to the latest chart figures, a number down from 215,129 the previous week.

A surge in popularity for the PlayStation Portable - 132,911 from 105,801 in the week prior - took the handheld from fourth place to second, and the PlayStation 3 took third position.

The DSi came fourth with 92,461 unit sales, however with other models - the LL and DS Lite - included the console shifted 180,492 units in total.

In the software chart, New Super Mario Bros Wii came out on top for another week with sales of over 250,000 despite a 47 per cent drop from the previous week.

Friend Collection climbed one place to number two, and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks took third place, down from two.

Final Fantasy XIII remained in fourth position with a 41 per cent sales decrease leading to just over 111,000 unit sales.

The full Media Create software chart for the week ending January 3 is as follows:

01 New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii)
02 Tomodachi Collection: Friend Collection (DS)
03 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
04 Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
05 Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
06 Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS)
07 Inazuma Eleven 2: Threat of the Invaders (DS)
08 Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
09 Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP)
10 Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute (DS)
The full hardware chart is as follows:

01 Nintendo Wii - 163,855
02 PlayStation Portable - 132,911
03 PlayStation 3 - 114,368
04 Nintendo DSi - 92,461
05 Nintendo DSi LL - 70,643
06 Nintendo DS Lite - 17,388
07 Xbox 360 - 6878
08 PlayStation 2 - 4023
09 PSPgo - 3903

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...hardware-chart