The Japanese love the Nintendo DS and it's starting to look like that love may be translating nicely to Nintendo's new console as well. According to the latest data from Enterbrain, publisher of Japanese magazine Famitsu, the Wii has outsold the PlayStation 3 by a margin of nearly three-to-one in the month of January. Enterbrain's figures show that Nintendo sold about 405,000 Wii units last month, while Sony sold around 148,000 units of the PS3.

Life-to-date in Japan Nintendo has sold through 1.4 million Wii units compared to the PS3's 614,000 units.

All this talk of Sony being outpaced by the competition has once again fueled the idea that a price cut on the PS3 may be coming sooner than we all think. "There could be a price cut for the PS3 by the end of the year, and more software titles will hit the market. I expect the PS3 to be doing better after a while," said Enterbrain President Hirokazu Hamamura, according to Reuters.

However, he then added, "Of course, the Wii will keep running ahead all the while."

Concomitant with Enterbrain's data, Japan's other major video game data source, Media Create, shows that in the most recent weekly chart the disparity between PS3 and Wii sales is even greater. 83,754 Wii consoles were sold compared to just 19,996 PS3s. The Xbox 360, as usual in Japan, trailed behind with 7,365 units.