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Why Robin Makes Batman Better What a difference a week can make. While sales of the Wii were bumped unimpressively by about 10,000 from last week on the release of Super Mario Galaxy in Japan, it’s Ace Combat 6 that had the impact of a sonic boom on hardware. Last week’s Xbox 360 sales were fairly high (in the upper 3,000s) but this week, sales of Microsoft’s gaijin console are in the stratosphere. Relatively, that is. Ace Combat 6‘s debut, alongside a handful of new budget priced games, pushed Xbox 360 sales past the PlayStation 3′s, selling 17,673 consoles from October 29 to November 4. That’s a 475% increase! It looks like Microsoft Japan may have a winner.
Nintendo DS Lite – 78,552 PSP – 59,714 Wii – 37,617 Xbox 360 – 17,673 PlayStation 3 – 17,434 PlayStation 2 – 10,209 Game Boy Advance SP – 206Anecdotal evidence? Sucks. While we’ve heard plenty about Super Mario Galaxy launching “quietly” and response being tepid, it seems that Wii gamers in Japan are still taken by the Italian plumber, especially when in a galactic setting. Mario’s first proper Wii adventure captured the number one spot on this week’s charts with a healthy quarter million sales. True, Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 had a great week, boosting The Idolm@ster and Earth Defense Force 3 sales, both now part of the Platinum series.
For those keeping score, DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou – Satsui no Wana also saw a nice little bump in placement and weekly sales. For the rest of the stuff, check the jump. Media Create sales for October 29 to November 4 are below.
01. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) Р251,000 / NEW 02. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (Xbox 360) Р77,000 / NEW 03. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) Р51,000 / 193,000 04. Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander The 2nd (PS2) Р21,000 / NEW 05. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (DS) Р18,000 / 72,000 06. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou РSatsui no Wana (DS) Р18,000 / 115,000 07. Wii Sports (Wii) Р16,000 / 2,182,000 08. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS) Р15,000 / 676,000 09. World Soccer Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal! (DS) Р15,000 / 44,000 10. Pok̩mon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) Р14,000 / 552,000
Shocker! A Nintendo DS Final Fantasy game tops the weekly Japanese sales charts! Alongside Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire‘s impressive weekly sales, the rest of the top ten features uniquely Japanese releases, mostly new. Winning Eleven, Imabikisou, Sega’s horrific sound novel game, DS Bungaku Zenshuu, the Nintendo literature collection, and all sorts of other things I don’t recognise round out the top ten. Even Sega’s wacky Ghost Squad debuted strong.
While Sega had a good week, it seems Japanese gamers have had their fill of Seaman, as the PlayStation 2 release dropped from number 1 to number 21 in its second week. Oh well! Media Create’s sales figures for October 22 to the 28 are below.
01. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (DS) Р142,000 / NEW 02. Ar Tonelico II: Sekai ni Hibiku Shoujo Tachi (PS2) Р72,000 / NEW 03. World Soccer Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal! (DS) Р29,000 / NEW 04. Imabikisou (PS3) Р23,000 / NEW 05. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (DS) Р21,000 / 54,000 06. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch (DS) Р20,000 / NEW 07. Ghost Squad (Wii) Р20,000 / NEW 08. God of War II (PS2) Р17,000 / NEW 09. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou РSatsui no Wana (DS) Р17,000 / 98,000 10. Pok̩mon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) Р16,000 / 537,000
Get a cuppa, we’re going to be here for a while. We’ve got four European nations to get through this week: Britain, Germany, Spain AND Sweden. We don’t want to spoil the surprises awaiting you after the jump, but as a tease, you can expect Zelda, and you can expect football. So much football, in fact, you could be forgiven for thinking Europe’s big on the sport.
Britain (All-Format Charts)*
1. Pro Evo 2008 2. FIFA 08 3. Football Manager 08 4. Phantom Hourglass 5. Ratatouille 6. The Orange Box 7. Metroid Prime 3 8. Halo 3 9. High School Musical 10. Cooking Mama
Germany
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) 2. Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PC) 3. FIFA 08 (PS2) 4. The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (PC) 5. More Brain Training (DS) 6. Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 (PC) 7. Brain Training (DS) 8. Pokemon Diamond (DS) 9. FIFA 08 (PC) 10. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
Spain
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) 2. FIFA 08 (PS2) 3. Project Gotham Racing 4 (360) 4. FIFA 08 (PS3) 5. WWE SmackDown vs. Raw (PS2) 6. More Brain Training (DS) 7. MySims (DS) 8. Brain Training (DS) 9. FIFA 08 (PSP) 10. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
Sweden
1. Football Manager 2008 (PC) 2. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) 3. Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PC) 4. SingStar Swedish Hits Schlager (PS2) 5. Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (360) 6. World of Warcraft (PC) 7. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC) 8. Superman Returns (360) 9. Halo 3 (360) 10. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
*NOTE: Britain’s charts are from last week, the other three from two weeks ago. Which is why Pro Evo features in Britain’s charts and not elsewhere.
[charts courtesy of GfK and ChartTrack]
I wish I could lead off this post with good news that Seaman 2 greased the way for a strong week of PlayStation 2 sales, but, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t much of a hardware mover. Actually, the PlayStation 2 performed almost exactly as it had the week before, besting only the Xbox 360, sales of which dropped some 50% week-to-week. Wii sales continue to slump as Japanese gamers wait desperately for something new and worthwhile to play.
Sorry, it’s really quite a dull week, hardware-wise. So here’s a picture of a bunny with a crimson and black Nintendo DS Lite on its head.
Nintendo DS Lite – 70,608 PSP – 58,669 Wii – 24,932 PlayStation 3 – 17,130 PlayStation 2 – 10,281 Xbox 360 – 3,011Seaman! Buckets and buckets of Seaman! That’s what Japanese gamers gobbled up this week, as Sega’s sequel to the Dreamcast test of patience from Vivarium for the PlayStation 2 topped the Japanese sales charts. The voice activated, missing link-raising sim just barely beat out Nintendo’s newest non-game for the Nintendo DS, DS Bungaku Zenshuu, a collection of Japanese literature readable on the dual screen sensation.
The only other exciting sales news was the debut of Beautiful Katamari for the Xbox 360 cracking the top ten and Lair for the PlayStation 3 hanging tough in the top 30. Also, I’m sure many of you were curious about the placement of DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou – Satsui no Wana. It held strong for another week and should best the 100,000 mark any day now. Sleep well, sales figure faithful.
01. Seaman 2 (PS2) Р33,000 / NEW 02. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (DS) Р32,000 / NEW 03. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2) Р20,000 / 271,000 04. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou РSatsui no Wana (DS) Р20,000 / 81,000 05. Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP) Р19,000 / 133,000 06. Pok̩mon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) Р19,000 / 521,000 07. Beautiful Katamari (360) Р19,000 / NEW 08. Pok̩mon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS) Р16,000 / 457,000 09. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS) Р15,000 / 646,000 10. Banushi Life Game: Winners Circle (DS) Р15,000 / NEW
