Big in Japan May 17-23: Lost Planet 2

After weeks of stagnation, Media Create's Japanese game sales chart received a significant overhaul for the week of May 17-23, with more than half of the top 10 claimed by newly released titles.

Both versions of Lost Planet 2 made it into the week's top five best-selling games.

The PlayStation 3 version of Lost Planet 2 secured the top spot with 84,607 copies sold for the week, dethroning Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 after the DS role-playing game spin-off enjoyed a three-week stay atop the sales charts. Lost Planet 2's 360 version also fared well, finishing the week in fifth place with 33,536 copies sold.

The next biggest new release was Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen for the PlayStation 3. Capitalizing on buzz for the upcoming World Cup (even though it lacks the tournament's official license), Aoki Samurai no Chousen for Sony's console was third overall with sales of 57,214. The PSP and PlayStation 2 editions of the game also cracked the charts, finishing in sixth place and ninth place, respectively.

The final new release was Namco's latest PSP Fullmetal Alchemist game, which finished seventh overall. That left just four spots on the chart for previously released games, with the aforementioned Joker 2 taking the week's silver medal and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker selling enough for fourth place. A pair of evergreen Nintendo games are now threatened with fading from the top 10, as New Super Mario Bros. Wii slipped to eighth place and Tomodachi Collection clung to 10th place as it began its 12th month on store shelves.

While there was plenty of turnover in the software results, the hardware sales figures were more stable (though mostly down week-over-week). The PSP was once again the best-selling system of the week, with the PSP Go once again in last place, trailing the pack by a significant margin. The order of systems in the middle remained unchanged, with the PS3 taking second, followed up by the Wii, DSi XL, standard DSi, and Xbox 360, in that order.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF MAY 17-23, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Lost Planet 2 / Capcom / PS3 / 84,607
2. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 / Square Enix / DS / 61,998
3. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen / Konami / PS3 / 57,214
4. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker / Konami / PSP / 34,267
5. Lost Planet 2 / Capcom / 360 / 33,563
6. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen / Konami / PSP / 21,118
7. Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist: Yakusoku no Hi e / Namco / PSP / 20,675
8. New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 17,657
9. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Aoki Samurai no Chousen / Konami / PS2 / 14,269
10. Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 14,015

Hardware:
PSP - 22,462
PS3 - 19,075
Wii - 18,465
DSi LL - 14,108
DSi - 9,356
Xbox 360 - 4,656
DS Lite - 2,681
PS2 - 1,175
PSP Go - 851