Handheld games outsold traditional games consoles in Japan for the first time during the past year, driven by huge demand for Nintendo's DS handheld.

Total Japanese domestic sales of handhelds leapt 62 per cent in fiscal 2005, which ended in March 2006, and the shipments earned $2bn in sales.

Nintendo's DS sold 4.32 million units during the period, more than double the 2.07 million Sony PlayStation Portables sold in Japan, and easily beating sales of the PSP's big brother, the PlayStation 2, the Asahi Shimbun reported.