All these moves have improved the sales of PlayStation 3 and for the first time in months Sony’s gaming device has managed to outsell Nintendo Wii in its homeland.

According to the latest data released by the research company Enterbrain in the last four weeks Sony has sold 183,217 PS3s in Japan.

Nintendo Wii, which until the PS3’s price cuts, was the best selling gaming console in Japan sold only 159,193 units.

Earlier this week Sony Computer Entertainment America has also reported a sharply increase of PlayStation 3’s sales in America.

Since November 2, the launch date of both the 40GB and the cheaper 80GB PS3 models, PS3 hardware sales have increased by 298%, SCEA said.

But is this a sign that the hard times are over and Sony may return to it former dominance over the last 11 years? Hard to say! Sony is still lagging far behind its competitors in terms of worldwide and US sales. During the same period when Sony reported a 298 percent increase in US sales, Nintendo sold in US 350,000 Wii in just one week, after no less than 300,000 units had found their owners in the first week of November. The sales of Wiis represent the highest one-week U.S. sales total outside of its launch week one year ago.

The last NPD research credited Sony with 121,000 units sold in October. This means that Sony could sell somewhere around 300,000 to 400,000 units in November, while Nintendo Wii seems to be ready to hit the one million units mark.

On the other hand, Sony’s competitors are better prepared to take advantage of the holiday season. Despite its shortages, Nintendo Wii is still rated as the best-buy gaming device by various gaming sites and analysts. Microsoft has an impressive games line-up and its Xbox 360 Arcade, which has a $279 price tag, is better positioned to lure away the Nintendo’s customers.

It’s very likely that Sony will see an increase in its PS3 sales during this holiday season, but rather to its Blu-Ray player and not for its gaming capabilities.

Though, the next year will bring better news for Sony. With a lot of new games coming up, Sony will solve the last of its deficiencies: the lack of the good gaming software.

It will be interesting to see how Nintendo and Microsoft will fight against a PS3 with a better price tag and some good games, such as Gran Turismo Prologue, in his portfolio.

After all maybe all those analysts who predicted that PS3 will win the gaming consoles battle in 2009 were right.

Until then, grab your popcorn and let’s watch Microsoft compete against Nintendo during this holiday season.