The Wii is outselling the PS3 by around 2:1 in Japan, where Nintendo's console sold just shy of one million units in 2006.

perspective shot of wii - Wii dominates PS3 in Japan

According to stats released by Tokyo Research and Publisher Enterbrain, the Wii is following in the footsteps of the Nintendo DS in Japan, and is dominating the next-gen console war.

Enterbrain reports that up until the end of 2006 the Wii sold 989,118 units since it went on sale on December 2, 2006. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 3's sales sit at 466,716 units, despite launching several weeks earlier on November 12.

Some of the Wii's lead can be attributed to the severe stock shortages which plagued the PlayStation 3 launch. However, given the early advantage and Nintendo's current popularity in Japan it would be a brave man to bet against the Wii continuing to dominate sales in Japan.

The Xbox 360 ended 2006 strongly in Japan thanks to the release of Blue Dragon, helping to sell around 100,000 consoles in December. Despite this surge, the total Xbox 360 sales in Japan are only 290,467.

The Japanese handheld market in 2006 saw the DS boss the PSP. Nintendo's dual screen wonder now has lifetime sales just short of 14 million, compared to the PSP's 4,510,000.