It's just good news all around these days when it comes to the growth of the global video game business. We recently reported on a record breaking year for video games in the U.K., followed by a new all-time high for the industry here in the U.S., and now Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has just revealed that in Japan the games industry had its biggest year yet with total industry sales of 625.79 billion yen (up 37.6 percent).

Following a few years of decline, the Japanese market saw hardware sales rise to 261.90 billion yen and software sales reach 363.89 billion yen. According to Enterbrain, it was the handheld sector that really drove sales during 2006, accounting for nearly 63 percent of software unit sales in Japan and exceeding console software sales for the first time.

This was largely attributable to the Nintendo DS, which sold over 7.5 million units during the year. The second best selling video game system, Sony's PSP, wasn't even close to within reach of the DS. The PSP's 2006 tally in Japan came to more than 1.9 million units. This was closely followed by Sony's own PS2 with over 1.5 million units sold.

Considering how dominant the DS has been, it's no surprise that the top three best selling software titles for the year were for the dual-screen handheld. The most purchased game in Japan for 2006 was the Pokemon title Pocket Monster Diamond/Pearl, which sold more than 4.3 million copies. That was followed by Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. (over 3.8 million) and Tohoku Daigaku Mirai-Kagaku-Gijutsu-Kyodo-Kenkyu-Center Kawashima Ryuta Kyoju Kanshu: Motto Nou wo Kitaeru Otona no DS Training (almost 3.75 million), which is probably the longest video game title this editor has ever read. Rounding out the top five were Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori for the DS (almost 2.5 million) and Final Fantasy XII for the PS2 (over 2.3 million).

Looking at the top publishers, once again it came as little surprise that Nintendo put up the best numbers during 2006. Nintendo sold well over 24 million units of software for the year. Furthermore, the Pokemon Company, which is basically a Nintendo affiliate, placed third on the publisher list with nearly 5.6 million software units sold. So if you were to combine the two, Nintendo and affiliates sold upwards of 30 million copies generated by sales of 35 different titles (5 from Pokemon). Placing second on the list was RPG powerhouse Square Enix, which sold close to 6.85 million copies (13 different titles).

With the new consoles on the market in Japan now, it'll be interesting to watch 2007 unfold. Will portable still dominate console? Can the DS continue its run? Time will tell, of course.