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Despite a lack of major new releases, the Japanese sales chart has largely maintained its momentum this week. The third in the Professor Layton series on DS remained at number one, and Fallout 3 on 360 made a surprise new entry at number nin

David Jenkins, Blogger

December 11, 2008

2 Min Read

Despite a lack of major new releases, the Japanese sales chart has largely maintained its momentum this week, with continued strong sales across the board. The third in the Professor Layton series for the Nintendo DS remained at number one, but retained the position with only 87,000 unit sales. The highest new entry of the week was Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World from Namco Bandai. The latest in a long line of anime licensed, one-on-one beat ‘em-ups for the PlayStation 2, the game debuted with 76,000 units sold. The relative lack of high-profile new releases has allowed older Nintendo DS titles to fill the void, with Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode, Pokemon Platinum and what will be known in the West as Rhythm Heaven all re-entering the top 10. The second highest new entry of the week is Sega’s 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de for the Wii. Developed by ChunSoft, the visual novel is only the ninth game to receive a perfect 40/40 score from respected Japanese print magazine Famitsu. It debuted at number eight with 34,000 unit sales. Coming in only just behind, at number nine, is the Xbox 360 version of Bethesda’s Fallout 3. Selling 31,000 units, the Western style action role-playing game has performed similarly to Gears of War and Bethesda’s own Oblivion in its first week. Even greater sales might have been expected of the PlayStation 3 version, due to its higher installed userbase in Japan, but it is not released until January. Outside the top 10 the highest new entry is Konami baseball simulator Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 for PlayStation 2 at number 16, with the PlayStation 3 version at number 20. Volume 3 of D3’s series of Neon Genesis Evangelion themed pachinko simulators appears at number 25 on DS, while a new DS title based on anime Reborn! debuts at number 28.

TW

LW

Title

Publisher

Format

Weekly Sales

1

1

Layton Kyouju to Saigo no Jikan Ryokou

Level-5

DS

87,000

2

NE

Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World

Namco Bandai

PS2

76,000

3

3

Machi e Ikouyo: Doubutsu no Mori

Nintendo

Wii

76,000

4

7

Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe

Nintendo

DS

60,000

5

2

World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009

Konami

PS3

42,000

6

11

Wagamama Fashion: Gals Mode

Nintendo

DS

38,000

7

13

Pocket Monsters Platinum

The Pokemon Company

DS

37,000

8

NE

428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de

Sega

Wii

34,000

9

NE

Fallout 3

Bethesda

360

31,000

10

12

Rhythm Tengoku Gold

Nintendo

DS

30,000

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About the Author(s)

David Jenkins

Blogger

David Jenkins ([email protected]) is a freelance writer and journalist working in the UK. As well as being a regular news contributor to Gamasutra.com, he also writes for newsstand magazines Cube, Games TM and Edge, in addition to working for companies including BBC Worldwide, Disney, Amazon and Telewest.

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