14 DAY TRIAL // The data regarding the first week of hardware and software sales in Japan is here and, while we would like to welcome 2009 with some exciting news from the Japanese front, we have to report that the same old front runners are leading in the hardware category, while the software chart has seen some changes.
The Nintendo DS is still the best sold gaming device in the Land of the Rising Sun, with some 230,000 units of both the older DS and the newer DSi sold in seven days. Still, the gaming handheld registered a drop of about 14,000 units probably due to the lack of significant game releases.
The PlayStation Portable from Sony is in second spot, selling an impressive 157,000 units, which means that it jumped by more than 38,000 devices in one week, due most likely to the top spot in the software charts occupied by Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
The Nintendo Wii is in third spot, with sales going down by 15,000 to around 120,000 units. The PlayStation 3 really benefited from the holiday period, selling 60,654 units in one week as sales grew by more than 25%. This means that over 2008, the Sony made gaming console sold more than 1 million units in Japan, bringing its lifetime total to 2.5 million.
The Xbox 360 from Microsoft sold around 19,964 units, which is more than the number posted by the PlayStation 2 - 10,404.
With 104,000 copies sold last week, Dissidia: Final Fantasy from Square Enix took the top spot in the software chart. The game is a mash up that brings together various characters from a lot of Final Fantasy titles and sold very well in Japan, going over 750,000 in lifetime sales. Rhythm Tengoku Gold from Nintendo jumped to number two from six with 89,000 units sold, while Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe is in third spot.