Nintendo's Wii is still the top selling console in Japan, but the latest stats would suggest that it's losing its lead.

Game magazine publisher Enterbrain has released its latest stats and it seems that the Sony PS3 is gaining popularity in the Japanese market.

The Wii outsold its rival console by 1.7 to 1 in June, making it the number one game console for a seventh consecutive month.

But the mag put this figure into perspective adding that, in May, the Nintendo console had a 6-to-1 lead.

Nintendo sold 235,990 units of its Wii console in the five weeks ended 29 June, while sales of the PS3 came to 139,494 units, Enterbrain said.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is currently trailing the pack, with sales of 10,964 units.

PS3 sales are believed to be being driven by the launch in June of Konami Corp's Metal Gear Solid 4.

On a worldwide scale though Sony has lots of catching up to do - Sony had sold 12.85 million units of its latest console worldwide by the end of March, or just half the Wiis sold since the rival consoles were both launched in late 2006.

For handheld game players, Sony sold 274,131 of its PlayStation Portable consoles during the five-week period, surpassing Nintendo, which sold 195,714 of its DS players.

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>> Via - Reuters