@Gambly: Why do you think Sony expected MGS4 to suddenly catapult them into top position (for more than the one week it did) in Japan? Of course they didn't. They expected it to sell excellently compared to the install base (it did) and probably hoped that, being the first big game for the system, it would mark a small but noticeable improvement in weekly PS3 sales from then on (jury's still out).

PS3 is actually doing okay in Japan (and everywhere else). The fact that long-term it isn't doing as well as Wii is because Wii is a big success, not because PS3 is a failure. (And the fact that short-term it isn't doing as well as PSP... I don't suppose Sony are losing sleep over that.)

So, is the Aria game any good? I'm a fan of the series but, eh, anime game, probably sucks. (PS2, so I won't buy it anyway, but still curious.)

Also of note: look how poorly Wii Play is selling now... almost out of the top 30.

quen

@jacksons98: This is hardly a new development, horseracing sims have been popular in japan at least as far back as th super famicom if not earlier. And also I don't believe that any Metal Gear games has sold over a million in japan. Different strokes and all that.

Oyn

I'm scared for gamers. One of the best games in years MGS4 is sitting at #5. What is happening to our hobby?? Horse racing #1!?! Scary

jacksons98

@LittleBigPlaneteer: So if it keeps decreasing as we're watching this last weeks. It will reach some point that wont even belong there anymore to the list. But we'll see. I think when MGS online will come out, the MGS will come up again and more MGS4 will be sold.

Gambly

@LittleBigPlaneteer: Yes i know that, had a big increase in the first days...but as i read here in kotaku. The sales of MGS and PS3 consoles just came to normal state. That means that the MGS4 fever is over there in Japan. And that means that the reaction wasn't exactly what SONY was waiting. Or else the Top would still belong to MGS4, and since some weeks, it's not in the TOP anymore.

Gambly

@Vidunder: Depends whether it's Let's Pet The Pretty Horsey or Whip That Nag Until She Runs Faster.

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc

@Superstar90:
Namco hate gaijin quite obviously.

As I recall only reason the original Talse of Symphonia ever got translated was because Nintendo paid for the localization. Its also the reason why the PS2 port was never localized since Nintendo held the rights to the translation.

Chalice

Derby Stallion DS, eh? Whatever floats your boat!

Wolfers

@Gambly:

Do some research on how well MGS sells in Japan and how much consoles it has moved in PS2 days.

LittleBigPlaneteer

@fearing:

And it did drive console sales. I think you'd have to be crazy to think MGS4 was some sort of miracle game that would make the PS3 sell like hotcakes for months straight. It's a niche title that never sold significantly well compared to other major titles out there. The internet blew up the hype for MGS4 as "Sony's saviour" more than Sony did, trust me. MGS4 gave Sony a nice boost in the arm, simple as that.

LittleBigPlaneteer

Tales of Symphonia 2 is coming out here so soon, but Namco hasn't said anything about the 2 DS games. Granted, Tempest was sub-par, but Innocence was incredible. They are gonna release a third DS game called Tales of Hearts this year, but it probably won't come out here :(

Namco Bandai? moar like scamco badguy amirite?

Superstar90

@LittleBigPlaneteer: They wanted to sell consoles, not only games... that was the plan from Sony. So that means we're not seeing that big increase in consoles. Just came back to normal,...

Gambly

@Fluffy22: I think he was refering to how Sony talked about it driving console sales. As for which one I'll be playing a couple years from now, probably neither. After beating MGS4, I may play it through again one more time with all the other MG games consecutively for the story, but beyond that, I don't get a lot of replay value out of that one for me.

fearing

@Fluffy22: Look Wiifit where it goes... how they'll reach such level? It won't.

I hope that Nintendo wont come with more plastic till the end of this generation, i am a little frustrated with the quantity of plastic that we need to buy for a "moment".

Gambly

lol WTF Horse training?

JustJake

@pandafresh:

I'm not surprised that the horse training game got first. Back when I used to go to Dave and Busters I would always see this one big arcade game where you could train your horses and then go race them. And ALWAYS I would see some old asian men playing on it. So it's probably one of those things that would appeal more to the Japanese than here in the US. For instance we have Hannah montana and bratz games, and they have that.

NeoAkira

@Zhemos:

There are roughly 2 million PS3 owners in Japan. You expect 1 out of 2 to get it? MGS4 was a huge success in Japan as far as I'm concerned. It's usually not the most popular region for the series and better than 1 out of every 4 PS3 owners there purchased it.

LittleBigPlaneteer

@Fluffy22: But will never beat Mario Kart wii. I think it's not that much. They were hopping to sell more consoles with the game.

Gambly

horse game shabve always done well there, since back when i was reading the indecipherable names from the pages of gamefan in the 90's, im sure wizbolt can enlighten us further, but horse breeding/racing games are quite popular there.

rianfrost

Can we stop caring what Japan plays now? Please? THEY DONT MATTER EXCEPT TO ENTERTAIN THEIR CAUCASIAN MASTERS.

sheesh, get a clue.

TakuFangirl

So Mario Kart DS is out of the top 30. That's a shame.

gamadaya

I expect to see a lot of hate for this news, like I saw a lot of hate for similar Ubisoft titles. Or is it japanese, thus it's ok?

Vidunder

Japan loves japan. We love japan. They don't love us... [joke] :P

They live in their world, it's natural that the top belongs to all that Japanese titles. But, very strange to see that people are more on the side of the portables or wii. MGS4 isn't selling so much as they [sony] were expecting.

Gambly

Too bad for Sony. I expected Metal Gear Solid to break atleast 1 mil by now. Was it a flop in japan?

Looks like the Wii and portables reign supreme once again.

Zhemos

This has to be a joke. Derby Freaking Stallion DS beat out Tales of Symphonia for first place? What has become of Japan?

Green-clad Gamer Dude

Nice to see the Wii Tales of... game off to a nice start. Wonder if it'll disappear soon, though...

I could sure go for a Coors Light right about now...

BPMμ

@Neon:

You are so clueless :(

LittleBigPlaneteer

@Neon: 10 years from now i wonder what game people will replay and which one they'll ignore..hmm...

its sad though, some horse game outsold all those other games.

pandafresh

it will be interesting to see how this shakes out in the console sales, to see if the psp can survive the diminuation of its big game.

rianfrost

@Neon: 566,000 MGS4 sales for only about 2million ps3's is amazing...what are u talking about?

Fluffy22

was battlefield bad company only released on the X360 in Japan?

Firemane

Poor sony, all that MSG4 is our savior hype and Wii Fit is matching sales weeks later.

Neon

More 360 games in the top 30 than PS3

*faint*

Snuffbox

@zoesch:

/agree

EnigmaNemesis

Sometimes, Japan just scares the hell out of me. This is one of those times.

Archaotic

@Gambly: MGS never sold well in Japan to begin with, the fact that the game has reached 25% of the installed base is actually surprising.

I don't know why people get their panties in such a twist, it's not as if magically Sony will sell 87 Million consoles in one day, but apparently fanboy logic dictates so. Likewise for Microsoft and Nintendo.

zoesch

A horse game beat out a Tales game (JRPG)? Whatever people love them ponies and grooming I guess. It's too bad they won't add a "pick up that horse shit" session. It's tiring work D:

goldwings

Whatever... the gamers base in Japan is very different from ours.
But what really surprized me here is: There are 360 titles on that list!

How that happened?

But I actually know someone on Japan who has a 360... so it might be more common than people thinks.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

who cares about MGS or derby stallion? There's a new Band Brothers out and noone has told us about it?! The first one was one of the best music games ever and the only one where it actually feels like you're playing music instead of just pressing some random buttons sequences like guitarhero or beat mania.
Pretty nice sales as well; now could we please have it outside Japan?

beril

Believe it or not Derby Stallion is one of the most famous and selling franchises in Japan and is not something "new", the first titles coming from the FC/SFC era. So im not surprised... well, except for Mario Kart DS finally getting out of the Top 30

HayamaAkito

I don't know what the Derby Stallion games are all about (I've seen Super Famicom cartridges with the name so presumably it's a popular franchise in Japan), but I do know it spawned a very attractive special edition "skeleton" Sgea Saturn in Japan, that now sells for very large amounts on eBay...

photoboy

damn, Nintendo is cleaning up.7 of the top 10 games are for Nintendo gaming systems.

KM91

@TakuFangirl: u should get banned with ur white power comment mr klan

ejpal

Crazy how these horse sims and kid games sell like crazy for the DS. $30 price tags FTW.

As far as the MGS4 sales go, that is really good. But just considering what the numbers would've been like had the game come out for 360 as well...man a lot of money lost...well maybe lost...still time for a later 360 release date../prays

Shabat0ge

Localize faster Namco, faster! Yah! Yah!

GyrFal

Damnit, I would love Higurashi if I could read the damn thing.

So far what I played (really heard and watched), the start of the game is opening like season one of the anime (Keiichi with a bat and the girls)

I had to stop right there cause, well it's pretty boring watching still images for hours on end if I can't understand them.

Keanu

To all of you trying to excuse MGS4's disappointing chart performance:

Only a fanboy can find promise from 90%+ sales decreases. And yeah, those numbers are partly to blame on the low amount of PS3s in public circulation. But what is to blame for THOSE low numbers? Not MGS4.

Fanboys need to learn that low sales doesn't mean horrible existence. It just means people are stupider than anticipated OR that you have really bad taste.
It's a lot easier than trying to convince everyone that bad is, in fact, quite good.

marmidukestank

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: well, number four is a neo genesis evangelion themed pachinko game for the PS2, so i'm not too suprised

thejakeman: visit my site!

I read "Portable House Training" instead of "Horse". I was intrigued.

...Didn't turn out as interested as I thought it would be.

TehAdz