RIDING ON THE success of the recent release of the new Monster Hunter Portable, Sony's PSP is still the number one platform in Japan - according to Media Create data (via Eurogamer).

More than 85,000 PSP consoles were sold last week - along with 221,000 copies of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G.

The DS came in in second place with over 47,000 sold, followed by the Wii at 46,000.

Unfortunately Media Create's figures did not include official statistics for the Cool Boy.

Xbox 360
After Microsoft cut Xbox 360 prices in Europe in the middle of March, the company has revealed that sales of the console have doubled.

"Xbox 360 is truly the next-generation console of choice among consumers, and today's numbers are proof that we are delivering on our commitment to achieve critical mass in Europe," said Chris Lewis, Xbox business boss in Europe. Chris, don't read the Japanese sales numbers in the link at the top of the page.

Activision announced this week that the COD4 variety map pack set a record for the number of paid downloads on Xbox Live Marketplace. The map pack surpassed one million downloads in the first nine days since its release.

PS3/PSP
After news of a Wii compatible BBC Iplayer last week, Auntie has revealed it's already investigating the Iplayer on the PS3, and promising that an official release will be available in "due course".

As promised last week, Sony released PS3 firmware v2.30 with the new store front and DTS-HD Master Audio sound.

If you haven't seen Ben Heck's PS3 laptop by now, check out the video at Engadget. The site has put it up on Ebay for a charity auction.

Wii/DS
Whilst the PSP is selling like hot-cakes in Japan, Mario Kart Wii has rocketed to the top of the charts after its Japanese debut totaling sales of 594,000 units.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said that the forthcoming U.S. May launch of Wii Fit could "cause a new boom in demand for the Wii."

"We believe that Nintendo of America intends to support the Wii Fit launch with the biggest marketing campaign in its history, and believe that the increased buzz will drive increased demand for the already difficult to find Wii hardware." he added.

This hack has already pre-ordered it and hopes to lose some weight in between games of GTA IV.

If this Gamesindustry.biz report is anything to go by, you may struggle to get a copy - five of the top UK retailers have already stopped further pre-orders.

Lucky Japanese gamers have finally been able to purchase a limited edition Wii Super Famicom joypad - pictured here. We want them too Nintendo.

Coders over at TehSkeen (via DCEMU) have manged the enabling of region-free gaming on the Wii via a simple software hack - no mod chips required. µ