We've Finally Got A Rare Glimpse Of The PlayStation 3's Performance Worldwide, Including Europe.

Sony's PlayStation 3 often comes off second-best in regions such as North America and the UK. Conversely, the PlayStation 3 does much more spectacular numbers in parts of continental Europe and Japan. Unfortunately, we're not often privy to those numbers, particularly in Europe. So the figures are discounted and forgotten.

In a rare glimpse at the worldwide market, Nintendo has revealed that the PlayStation 3 is actually the best selling system worldwide. By a reasonable sum too. In 2011 so far, Sony's home system has outsold both the XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii by nearly a million units.

According to the figures, PlayStation 3 has scooped up sales in the region of 6.3 million units for the year, while the XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii sit behind with 5.5 million units a piece. The bulk of Sony's sales stem from Europe, where it is outselling the XBOX 360 by about 40%. And while it sits behind in North America, strong performance in Japan gives Sony's hardware a big edge.

While the hardware sales are promising, software is important too. Nintendo's data shows that the likes of Call Of Duty: Black Ops and FIFA all perform better on PS3 in the region, while first-party content such as Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Gran Turismo 5 also post strong numbers.

It's great to finally get a good glimpse at the worldwide market, as North American sales are often taken as the end all for video game data.

It's also interesting to see some good numbers for PSP too. The supposedly "dead" system has scooped up sales of just under 4 million worldwide so far this year,  which is a number certainly not to be sniffed at. What's even more surprising is that the bulk of the sales aren't just coming from Japan, but Europe too, where PSP continues to post some rather impressive numbers on the back of the surprise success of EyePet PSP and Invizimals.

[Thanks NeoGAF / ShopTo]