Sony’s PlayStation 3 beat the monthly sales of Nintendo’s rival Wii in Japan for the first time in November, signalling that the battle between the two next generation consoles many yet have further to run.

The news comes in the run-up to the crucial Christmas period, after Sony cut the price of the PS3 and more games become available for the console.

Sony sold 183,217 PS3s in Japan in the four weeks to November 25, against sales of 159,193 for the Wii, according to the closely-watched survey from Enterbrain, the games magazine publisher.

The report comes is a blow to Nintendo, which has seen the Wii sell as many as six times as many units as the PS3 in recent months.

Analysts have argued that the Wii – a product largely constructed from of-the-shelf components – runs the risk of suffering a much shorter lifespan that the PS3, which is largely powered by expensively developed proprietary technology.

The Wii, which has been profitable from its very early sales, had been the run-away global leader in the $30 billion-a-year video games market. That feat was largely achieved through the Japanese group’s decision to underprice its rivals and target “non-core gamers”, such as older people and women.

In contrast, the PS3 picked up where its predecessors left off and was angled at the gaming hardcore – avid players attracted by the machine’s ability to process complex graphics.

Sales of the PS3 have also been lifted by the recent introduction of a new mid-range model with a 40-gigabyte hard disk drive.

Sony shares closed down 0.5 per cent at 6,010 yen. The stock had previously gained 15 per cent winning streak over five sessions after Dubai International Capital, the sovereign private equity company, invested in the company.

Shares in Nintendo, Japan’s third most valuable company behind Toyota Motor Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, gained 3.7 per cent to 67,500 yen.

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