Following last week’s encouraging hardware sales performance in Japan, driven in part by the recent DSi launch and a collection of compelling software for the PS3, combined sales of hardware for the week ending Nov 9 have taken an expected drop of 30%.

According to data provided by Media Create, total hardware sales have fallen from 314,195 to 218,586 in the space of a week. The top-end proportions of overall sales largely remain the same, with Nintendo’s DSi taking the lion’s share and the PSP hovering under the 50,000 mark.

Sales of TV consoles, however, have taken a turn. The PS3 has dropped from sales of 39,587 last week to 18,354, with the Xbox 360 doubling its sales performance (from 6,119 to 12,759) to close the gap. Meanwhile, the Wii puts a stop to its successive decline in sales this week after receiving a small gain up from 23,123 to 24,726.

Elsewhere, the PS2 continues to decline steadily though its sales remain an extraordinary achievement for a console that launched eight years ago. The DS Lite, meanwhile, tumbles from 16,369 to 8381.

The figures show that the Wii and Xbox 360 were the only two consoles which had improved in sales over last week. The DSi, despite taking the biggest number of sales, took a heavy drop from 171,925 to 104,897. How indicative this is of the end of a launch buzz as opposed to shortage of stock remains to be seen.

DSi - 104,897
PSP - 43,726
Wii - 24,726
PlayStation 3 - 18,354
Xbox 360 - 12,759
DS Lite - 8,381
PS2 - 5,743