(Adds sales figure for Xbox 360, background)

TOKYO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd's 7974.OS Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp's 6758.T PlayStation 3 by more than 3-to-1 in Japan in July, a game magazine publisher said.

Nintendo, creator of Mario, Zelda and other iconic game characters, sold 171,851 units of the Wii in the four weeks ending July 27, compared with 54,823 units of the PS3, Enterbrain said on Friday.

Nintendo this week reported a 32 percent jump in quarterly operating profit, driven by the runaway success of the Wii, which is enjoying strong demand thanks to its easy-to-learn motion-sensing controller, low price and innovative titles such as the “Wii Fit” exercise game.

Microsoft Corp's MSFT.O Xbox 360, which is struggling to compete with the Wii and PS3 in Japan, home to both Sony and Nintendo, sold 14,439 units, the publisher said.

In the handheld game market, Sony sold 256,765 units of its PlayStation Portable in the month, while sales of Nintendo’s DS came to 217,639 units, Enterbrain said. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Hugh Lawson)