Sony’s PlayStation 3 is clawing back ground lost to Nintendo’s rival Wii video games console, sales figures from Japan suggest.

Nintendo sold 245,653 Wiis in the four weeks to August 26, compared with 81,541 units for Sony's PS3, according to Enterbrain, the games magazine publisher.

That meant that the Wii outsold the PS3 by a three-to-one margin last month in the two companies' home market – down from more than four-to-one in July and six-to-one in June.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360, the third player in the current console battle, which has been hit by serious reliabilty issues, sold 11,288 units in the same period.

The figures may boost confidence among Sony executives, who argue that the PS3’s more sophisticated technology, which includes a built-in Blu-ray high definition DVD player and a powerful custom-designed cell processor, will fuel demand for the console over the longer-term.

In contrast, Nintendo built the Wii using relatively cheap parts, aiming to appeal to “non-core” gamers. That strategy has so far been richly rewarded but analysts say the Wii could have a shorter lifespan than the PS3.

Last week it emerged that the Wii has become the fastest selling video games console in British history after one million of the machines were sold 38 weeks after the device made its high street debut.

The Wii achieved the one million landmark in a shorter time than the Sony PlayStation 2, which, after a difficult launch in 2000, went on to become the world's most successful console so far, selling more than 115 million units worldwide.

Moreover, as a result of Nintendo's cheap and cheerful thinking, each Wii is being sold at a profit, while Sony is expected to make a loss on the PS3 this year.

Analysts have also argued that the PS3 needs a hit game to further boost its appeal in the £15 billion-a-year video games market.

That fillip could come in October, when Sony is set to release the next instalment of “Gran Turismo”, its popular racing title, in time for the key Christmas period.

Sony also recently sought to broaden the PS3's apppeal by unveiling a new widget that allows the console to receive and record high-definition TV programmes as the technology giant tries to persuade consumers that the device can do more than play video games.

The PlayTV add-on will also be able to transfer recorded TV content to a PSP, Sony’s handheld games console, which is also suffering from lacklustre sales compared to its main rival, Nintendo’s DS.

Recently, Woolworths, the struggling UK retailer, said that it would slash the price of the PS3 to £375, its “lowest ever level” in the UK.

The move was revealed as Microsoft dropped the price of its Xbox 360 Core – the most basic version of the console – to £180. The price for the 20 gigabyte hard-drive model of the Xbox 360 has been cut by £30 to £250.

Those moves still left the Wii as the cheapest console in the field, at about £180.

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