14 DAY TRIAL // The first week of March saw two new videogames debut in Japan, ousting the previous number one, just as the PlayStation Portable from Sony managed to keep the first spot in the hardware sales chart. The PSP succeeded in moving 64,808 units in seven days, which is significantly better than the numbers posted for the previous week. The Nintendo Wii remained in second place with sales reaching 33,880 consoles, while the PlayStation 3 took the third place in the hardware chart, shipping 28,824 units to gamers.
The various Nintendo DS handhelds have taken the following three spots. The biggest seller in Japan is the LL version, which has a bigger screen and allows for users to get more information from the mobile device at a glance. It sold 23,611 units in one week, while the regular DSi managed a little over the 15,000-unit mark, and the old yet still attractive DS Lite sits at 4,316 in sales.
Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 home gaming console from Microsoft sold 2,764 units, more than the PlayStation 2 and more than the PSP Go, which continues to be the least attractive console for users.
When it comes to videogames, the big winner is Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki, a new title from Nintendo, which capitalizes on the popularity of the well known collectable creatures. In its first week on sale, the game managed to sell 150,532 units on the DS but failed to have a significant impact on sales of the console itself.
Second place went to the weirdly titled .hack//Link from Namco Bandai for the PSP, which managed to ship a little over 60,000 units, while third was taken by the Ultimate Hits edition of the popular Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies from Square Enix.
New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Wii is in fourth place, selling 40,685 units, and Kenka Bancho 4: One Year War has fallen from first place to fifth during its second week on sale.