A few days old, but hey, even old news is post-worthy when it points out how badly the PS3 is doing in the market. Over in Japan, the sales figures for January have rolled in and boy was it a surprise. Nintendo sold through around 405,000 units of their Wii console in comparison to the Sony PS3′s paltry 148,000 units. These are sold, in the homes, not ‘shipped’ which Sony (and to a degree Microsoft) are so often touting as their sales figures. The key for Nintendo’s success is to stretch their current lead throughout the rest of the year, with solid first and third party new releases and some real expansions in their online service, which is a bit weak to say the least. Online Wii Sports anyone? Yes please!

For the PS3? Sony can probably just hope their marketing team and execs don’t completely alienate the Europeans, who are their last hope of reclaiming market dominance. Though it’s starting to seem quite clear that mainstream games and consumers are replacing their PS2s as this generation’s console of choice with the Nintendo Wii, leaving the PS3 battling it out with the Xbox 360 for the fickle hardcore gamers market.

Read more: Wii outselling PS3 by 3 to 1 in Japan