Sony boasted with having sold more than 500,000 PlayStation Portable 2000 consoles in Japan since the debut of the lighter handheld last month, while the Wii, with all the shortages Reggie Fils mentioned, managed to sell more than 12 million units since November last year.

Sony said the popularity of its new PSP has driven sales to more than 500,000 units in less than a month. The new PSP is a sleeker and more streamlined version of the popular original PSP system. It is 33 percent lighter and 19 percent slimmer than the previous generation and is more convenient to carry around at less than 1/2-pound in weight and less than 3/4-inch in thickness. The new PSP system also sports a thinner, more efficient battery, 64MB of system memory and video-out capabilities.

Sony sells the trimmed-down PSP in a single color, the Piano black included in the Core Pack. In addition to that, Sony prepared two new Collectors’ Edition: “Ice Silver” PSP, included in the Daxter PSP Entertainment Pack launched in September and a limited edition “Ceramic White” PSP, including a Darth Vader silk screen on the unit, which will be featured in the Star Wars Battlefront PSP Entertainment Pack launching this October.

According to VGChartz.com, the number of PSPs sold until now worldwide reaches 24.11 million. Meanwhile, PSP’s fierce rival Nintendo DS has found more than 51.03 million owners and Nintendo promised to give away 500 tree seedlings to buyers in the US of its DS title Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol.

Speaking of Nintendo, Wii success is no surprise to any one these days, however the fact that it has now surpassed more than 12 million units is impressive, considering its time on the market.