Gaming consoles are hot this Christmas. During this crucial period when everyone is shelling out their cash, the biggest players have been aggressively jostling for position to get your hard-earned money. So what does the verdict say?

Overall, there’s been very little change. Back in October, the sales chart showed Wii leading the pack with 42.5% market share. That has remained steady, getting 42.6% (14.92 million units sold) by the end of November, or a 0.1% increase. XBOX is still a close second, but has fallen by 1.2% to finish at 39.4% (13.72 million units). And after all the price cuts, Sony’s PS3 is beginning to get some momentum, closing the month 1.1% higher at 18.2% market share (6.36 million units). With prices becoming more competitive, PS3 has actually out-sold Wii in Japan last week. Playstation 3 turned in 183,217 units as against the Wii’s 159,193 consoles. Good job, Sony gaming executives! You can now show your faces in public.

For the portables division, sorry, but there really isn’t much of a competition. If this was boxing, it would be like a heavyweight slugging it out with a pinweight. Tsk tsk tsk.

Of course, making great games is also essential for the console makers, especially if they’re exclusive deals. Not surprisingly, Wii and DS titles are at the top of game sales charts across all regions. Wii Sports and Super Mario Galaxy are particularly popular. Going into Christmas, while Sony and Microsoft bang their heads on the wall thinking about a new gimmick for their consoles, the Nintendo team can sit back, relax, and enjoy the holidays.