As the shortage of PlayStation 3 units continues in the US and Canada sales of PS2 and PlayStation Portable are booming, according to Sony Computer Entertainment America.

In a statement, communications boss David Karraker said the top five retailers in North America were reporting a week-by-week rise in PS2 hardware sales of more than 115 per cent over the Thanksgiving period. Sales of PSP units, meanwhile, were up by 280 per cent.

Sales of first-party software are also up, according to SCEA. PS2 game sales rose by 120.6 per cent, with PSP software sales increasing by almost 168 per cent.

Sony has yet to publish figures for exactly how many PlayStation 3 units have been sold in North America since the console launched there on November 17.

However, Karraker did confirm that all PS3s shipped to the US last week have been sold, adding, "More are already on their way for this week.

"Feedback from our retail partners is that demand is still incredibly high and that PS3s put on store shelves were quickly snapped up by holiday shoppers," he went on.

"We will continue to utilise airfreight delivery for the PlayStation 3 to assure a steady stream of systems for North American consumers through the end of the year."

As previously announced, Sony plans to ship one million PS3 units by the end of the year.

280% ! sounds really good ! i heard the PSP was in a all-time slump. guess not any more.

WOW if this continues the psp could possbily pass the ds in sales

pushing DS off the top will be tuff but with the halo effect of PS3 the PSP will really come back and come back in style. it was sony who was ignoring the needs of the PSP which was causing the lower sales figure. with sony getting its head out of its ass and getting some more content for teh PSP we will see the psp reaching out to the markets.

Its only an influx of HARDWARE sales because of the launch of the ps3. Its not going to sustain. And people left with a psp because they couldnt get a ps3.

The software sales are still shit because of piracy. And will see a decline back to nominal levels after this influx goes away.

Which is back to 150 thousand units a month.

And the top selling game above 25 k but under 50 k.

It may reach 200k in hardware sales by yrs end because of christmas. But well see. The psp needs a price cut as the games sure are not selling the hardware.

You can also bet the ds sales went up because of the wii launch. But only somewhat because there were more units avail.

nice! but i bet this is mostly due to holiday sales.

Wawaweewa this is good

It looks like the sales are only up 'cause of the high demand for PSP-PS3 compatibility, and THAT'S only for playing PS1 games. Oh well, eventually the homebrew PS1 emulators will start being perfected and the sales will go back to normal soon enough. Shame, since this was sort of good news for us PSP users.

keep it up and pass the ds

Wow that is a whole lot of money for sony, well they are popular

This is kinda dated though, since it was posted before Christmas dont you think?

Oh yeh thats true i dint see that lol