You can decide for yourself whether it’s proof of a dramatic PS3 resurgence or a troubling Wii decline, but a recent confession from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is certainly evidence of an increasingly heated and competitive battleground in the Japanese video games market.

Speaking about the Japanese market at an investor conference (and spotted by Spong) the Nintendo figurehead stated: “A notable dip can be seen in sales of Wii this year, which is approximately half the size of last year.

“On the other hand, Sony's PS3 showed a good transition and they increased the unit sales by about 50 per cent.

“Although we held more than a 60 per cent hardware market share through last year – Wii has 42 per cent and PS3 40 per cent share thus far this year – so both machines are neck and neck in Japan.”

There’s plenty of confidence from the publisher, however, with the recent Wii price cut expected to help the Wii regain its former momentum.

“We are to regain the momentum during the upcoming sales season and we are well in the position to do so,” Iwata concluded.