Japan: Nintendo DS Benefits from Pokemon Launch

Pokemon Black and White, the fifth generation of title based on the popular franchise, has launched on the Japanese market, predictably taking the first spot in the video games chart and pushing the Nintendo DS family ahead in the hardware oriented chart.

The best sold version of the device has been the somewhat older DSi model, which jumped from sales of 16,345 to no less than 47,379 in just one week.

The DSi LL model, which was two cameras and the bigger screen when compared to the rest of the line up, has also managed an increase from 19,076 to 31,254.

The PlayStation Portable from Sony, which has long dominated the Japanese hardware chart, saw a slight decline from 31,570 to 30,729.

The PlayStation 3 home console sits in fourth spot at 21,096 units sold, compared to the 19,907 that it manged during the previous seven days.

The Nintendo Wii saw a drop in sales to keep fifth place, followed by the DS Lite mode, which despite being old and obsolete managed to sell better than the Xbox 360 home console from Microsoft, the PlayStation 2 and the PSP Go.

Pokemon Black and White has managed to sell 2,557,770 copies in its first week on sale, which is impressive even by the standards of Pokemon launches, showing the fans are still interested in gaming experiences linked to the franchise, even if they only offer new characters the first time through the game.

Another new entry, Front Mission: Evolved from Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 took second place, with sales of 51,084 while a third new entry, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 5, from Konami and for the PlayStation Portable, took third place managing to move 45,879 units.

Halo: Reach managed to make an important market on the Japanese market, even if it arrived exclusively on the Xbox 360, with first week sales of 44.413 units, taking fourth spot.

Wii Party sits in fifth, with the following places in the charts occupied by: Monster Hunter Diary: Pokapoka Ailu Village, One Piece: Gigant Battle, Blue Roses: Yousei to Aoi Hitomi no Senshitachi, Taiko Drum Master DS: Dororon! Battle With the Ghouls!! and Super Mario Galaxy 2.