14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently one good game can take a gaming platform to the top. That's what is happening with the PlayStation Portable and the Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G game from Capcom. The wild success of the videogame title has made the PSP the dominant gaming console in Japan for the second week in a row. Its closest rival, the Nintendo DS, lacks a success game that can help it retake the top spot.
Data coming from market research firm Media Create shows that the PSP managed to move some 120 000 new consoles in the week that ends on April 6, slightly lower than the week before but still good enough to dominate the sales of the Nintendo DS, which is in second place overall with around 55 000 consoles sold in the same period. A big part of the PSP sales come from bundles which offer the Monster Hunter game with a special edition console that's covered in symbols of the game series.
Wii sales dropped by around 4 000 units to a total of 44,618 in one week. It is still the best selling non handheld console on the Japanese market, mainly because of the appeal that the control scheme seems to have on potential buyers. The PlayStation 3 sold some 11 000 units, taking the sales numbers of the console in Japan to over 2 million consoles since launch.
As usually, the Xbox 360 is posting another very bad week with just 1,453 consoles moved on the Japanese market. There seems to be little change in the number from one week to the other, suggesting that the market is very stable and that only game launches or price cuts can change the overall situation.
The games sales chart is dominated by Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, with selling close to 500 000 copies this week, while the PlayStation platforms dominate the top three, with Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin for the PlayStation 2 at number two and Star Ocean: Second Evolution for the PSP taking the third spot.