Nintendo's DS may be shipping in just over five weeks, but for Nintendo this day couldn't come sooner following reports from Japan about sales of it and Sony's PSP.

According to the latest sales figures for the week commencing 16 January, 64,600 PSPs were shipped to retailers in Japan over 10,00 more than the 53,300 DS consoles shipped in the same period.

Sony is saying that it has shipped over 800,000 PSPs into the Japanese market, these haven't necessarily gone into 800,000 homes however. Likewise Nintendo is boasting 2.4 million in Japan and America with a one-month lead on its competitor.

Sony still has a long way to go before it becomes the market leader however up until now its handheld console has only be available in Japan.

With the UK and European launch due in March, Nintendo is hoping to have shifted 6 million units by the end of that month.

>> Sony - Official website of Sony