Wii momentum finally slowing down, in Japan at least

It had to happen eventually: At some point, everyone who wanted a Nintendo Wii was going to get one and sales would begin to slow down.

That's finally the case in Japan, where Wii sales last month didn't beat sales of every other console on the market for the first time since the Wii was released.

Figures for March 2009 show the Wii selling under 100,000 units, with the Sony PlayStation 3 selling nearly a whopping 147,000.

The Wii continues its reign in the U.S. and Europe, but as the Financial Times notes, Japan console sales are usually a bellwether for sales in other parts of the world. While the Wii is still selling three times as many units in the U.S. as the PS3 -- roughly 750,000 to 250,000 -- observers are beginning to wonder if those numbers might begin to change sooner than we think.

Aside from simple momentum slowing things down (the Wii has already sold 8 million units in Japan vs. 3 million PS3s), analysts point to recently lackluster Wii titles, like Wii Music, as another strong reason for the sales decline. On the other hand, the PS3 has seen the release of some hot new titles like Resident Evil 5 in the last few weeks.

All of which means if Nintendo produces another Wii Fit or Super Mario Galaxy sized hit, things could turn back around quickly... and a Wii Sports sequel is on tap for June.

And, sorry folks, don't get excited about prices coming down: Nintendo is acknowledging the weak sales numbers but said that it has no plans to cut prices on the console (despite reports that the cost to produce the Wii has fallen by 45 percent since it was introduced), calling it not "a good option for us." I blame Luigi.