The Monster has reached Tokyo - no, not Godzilla. Think scarier. Welcome the PS3 to the charts.

Courtesy of Media-Create, we have the most recent sales figures from Japan.

The software charts, while hosting the PS3 for the first time, were relatively undisturbed. A mix of DS software maintained the portable's commanding presence - with the DS' triple-platinum club welcoming a new member: Pokemon Diamond/Pearl has now cracked 3 million units sold, besting even New Super Mario Bros. to the milestone.

Don't expect the PS3 software lineup to launch any serious offensives in the short-term. Weak launch lineup aside, Sony's supply issues have really created a stagnant sales situation for their console beast. I wonder if third parties who supported the system with launch software are frustrated with Sony now.

In hardware, you need know only two things: 1) the PS3, the anti-Wii itself, has arrived yet 2) The DS Lite still handily outsold it. There is a lesson to be learned here. Doubtlessly every last PS3 was snatched up by rabid Japanese gamers(? See Kotaku), all of 80k units. 80k. For a Japanese launch. Recipe for Chaos?

At any rate, the DS Lite is poised to continue its mad sales march on Japan. Even to this day the portable remains scarce in Japanese stores, and Nintendo is responding by readying a gauntlet of 1.5 million Lites for December. Since the 360 has already come and flopped, the holidays may really come down to a battle between the Wii and the DS. On another note, it will be interesting to see whether or not the PS3 will effectively cannibalize the PS2 now that its out. The next couple of months are going to be wild for chart-watchers.

The weekly software numbers follow:

The week's console numbers follow: