The latest Japanese hardware sales figures are in, courtesy of Media Create, and Xbox 360 sales have tripled thanks to the launch of Halo 3.

Microsoft sold 5,215 360s in the week ending September 30th, compared to 1,687 the week before. It wasn't enough to save the 360 from its usual place in the Japanese hardware chart at the bottom of the pile, however.

The PSP - driven by the release of the Slim 'n' Lite and Final Fantasy bundles - once again led the charge, beating the DS by an impressive 30,000 sales. The Wii was the best selling home console, with a little less than double the sales of the PS3. You can see the figures in full below.

Halo 3's impact on hardware sales in Japan has outdone the worldwide average, which saw sales double.

Meanwhile, Japanese hardware figures are in from Enterbrain for the whole of last month, and the Wii outsold the PS3 by almost three to one. The Wii notched up 168,220 Wii sales, compared with 66,444 PS3s moved. The 360 sold 13,242 units.

While the Wii is still outselling the PS3 by a significant amount, the gap is shrinking - due largely to continuing Wii shortages. Back in May the Wii outsold the PS3 by five to one, shifting 251,794 units.

Anyway, here are the figures in full for last week:

PSP - 102,809
DSL - 72,895
Wii - 24,143
PS3 - 13,105
PS2 - 12,980
Xbox360 - 5,215