Big in Japan August 9-15: Wii Party, Sengoku Basara

The week of August 9-15 was a quiet one for Japanese game retailers, with no new releases managing to crack the Media Create top 10 sales chart. Even a new release might have been hard-pressed to top the list, as Nintendo's minigame collection Wii Party continued to post gaudy numbers, selling nearly 125,000 copies in its sixth week of release.

The PlayStation 3 version of Capcom's historical action game Sengoku Basara 3 was a distant second, topping 35,000 copies sold and giving Sony's console its only representative on the charts. The PSP held its own, with Namco Bandai's latest Tales of Phantasia and Sega's Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2 taking fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Games for Nintendo's Wii and DS claimed seven of the top 10 chart spots, but only two of the top five. Level Five's Inazuma Eleven 3 for the DS finished third with sales over 28,000, and Nintendo's handheld was also represented by Eigokoro Kyoushitsu, Tomodachi Collection, and the latest Taiko no Tatsujin title. Besides putting a game at the top of the charts, the Wii also saw Super Mario Galaxy 2 hit sixth place, with Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory landing in ninth.

While Nintendo was all over the software charts, Sony fared best in the hardware wars. The PSP and PS3 were the best-selling systems of the week, moving 35,734 units and 33,057 units, respectively. However, that magic touch didn't extend to the PSP Go, which had a particularly uninspired week, selling just 608 new systems and bringing up the rear yet again. The DSi LL was Nintendo's best-selling effort, moving nearly 28,000 new systems into users' hands. The Wii was close behind, topping 25,000 systems sold.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF AUGUST 9-15, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Wii Party / Nintendo / Wii / 124,489
2. Sengoku Basara 3 / Capcom / PS3 / 35,324
3. Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!! Spark and Bomber/ Level Five / DS / 28,215
4. Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X / Namco Bandai / PSP / 27,822
5. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2 / Sega / PSP / 24,017
6. Super Mario Galaxy 2 / Nintendo / Wii / 20,873
7. Eigokoro Kyoushitsu DS / Nintendo / DS / 16,895
8. Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 15,243
9. Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory / Square Enix / Wii / 14,803
10. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Daikessen!! / Bandai Namco / DS / 14,299

Hardware:
PSP - 35,734
PS3 - 33,057
DSi LL - 27,923
Wii - 25,072
DSi - 24,850
Xbox 360 - 5,065
DS Lite - 4,809
PS2 - 1,675
PSP Go - 608