In Japan

Apr 21, 2009 17:11 GMT  ·  By

With no big titles released in Japan, the sales of hardware continue their downward trend. The numbers for the various platforms are pretty close and a big release could push any of the devices to the top during this week.

The Nintendo DS is still the best sold piece of hardware on the Japanese market, but it's quickly losing buyers. The handheld has managed to sell around 47,000 consoles, which is 15,000 less than during the previous week. The PlayStation Portable also lost buyers, but a smaller number, reaching sales of 40,886 after a fall of a little over 7,000.

In the home console realm, the PlayStation 3 continues to sell very well, taking third place in the hardware chart for the seventh week in a row. The Sony made console sold a little over 20,000 units, registering a drop of about 3,500. It seems that the console has now sold more than 3 million units in Japan since launch.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii only managed to move 15,525 units, a loss of about 2,000 over the previous week. The Xbox 360 saw an increase in sales up to 10,134 units.

As far as videogames go, the top position in the software chart in Japan was taken by Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes, created by Capcom for the PlayStation Portable. The new release managed to sell a total of 86,000 units in its first week. The game is one of those titles that could only see huge sales in Japan, being a portable spin off of a series called Devil Kings in the West. Second place went to Oboro Muramas, created by Marvelous for the Nintendo Wii, which moved 29,000 units. The title is also set to arrive in the West under the name of Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3, created by Nintendo for the DS, continued its good run, selling around 25,000 units, while Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G from Capcom for the PlayStation Portable sits in fourth place, just ahead of Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 from Konami.