It has been widely noted across the internet that, for the first time on record, the PS3 has leapt from its miserable depths, and overtaken the formidable success story that has been the Wii. In Japan last week, sales of the Sony giant’s latest console had overtaken the Wii for only its first occasion including its debut week. Consumers in Japan shifted 55,924 units of the PS3 compared to the Wii’s 34,546 showing that Sony had shifted over half as much again as the Wii. That’s quite a change from previous weeks and even months where the Wii for the most part dominated both the Xbox and Playstation consoles.

As I said in my first piece for WiiDS.co.uk, the price and power reductions in the Playstation were bound to improve market performance. It is simple, if you make something cheaper, more people will buy it, if only because they feel they are getting a better deal than before. I also hasten to add, that a better deal is not synonymous with a good deal, and that it is only relative to the offer it betters.

The surge in PS3 purchase, is no doubt a direct result of this price drop and in truth is only to be expected to continue for a least a while more, especially as we get closer to Christmas in the west. I don’t think the boost in sales should have Wii owners wondering whether the end really is nigh, as our friends at Joystiq have sheepishly heralded. I think it is only an immediate wide scale reaction that inevitably stirs interest, subsequently publicity and consequently a boost in sales. But let’s face it, if Coke doubled the price of their 330ml cans for 6 months then knocked a ¼ off, you would still be paying ¼ more than was necessary. But you would still get the upsurge in the market because of the price drop. The point is, any drop in price creates more sales. That is what I think is happening here. The Wii for entertainment value is still top of the list, even more so when you look at the kind of brass you need to shed in order to obtain one. And when you take into account the amount of time it has actually been on the shelves, it makes you think ‘woah, the Wii ain’t doing too badly after all.’

As usual, it’s my good friend and fruitful source – time, that will provide myself and the rest of us with the answer to this question, but I have the utmost faith in longevity and the least in brevity. So let’s see whether a price drop really was all Sony needed to enter the market as a challenger rather than a pretender.