Big in Japan Oct. 25-31: Gods Eater Burst
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Second helping of Namco Bandai multiplayer monster hunting game tops a quarter million sold in first week; latest release of Winning Eleven, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Fable II also make top 10.
North American game retailers are being assaulted with high-profile new releases these days, and they're not alone. According to research firm Media Create, new releases accounted for five of the 10 best-selling games in Japan for the week of October 25-31. The week before, debuts took up six spots on the charts.
The biggest release of the week was Gods Eater Burst, the second installment in Namco Bandai's multiplayer action series for the PSP. The four-player monster hunting formula paid off for the publisher again. Just eight months after the original God Eater sold more than 295,000 in its debut week, Burst arrived to sales of 263,150 copies. Konami's latest installment in the Winning Eleven series (Pro Evolution Soccer in North America) was a close second, as the PlayStation 3 edition of the multiplatform soccer sim sold 215,257.
Nintendo was well represented with releases both new and old. The previous week's chart topper, Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii, led the charge with a third place finish, followed by DS role-playing games Pokemon Black and White and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn in fourth and fifth, and Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii in sixth. Wii Party, the latest of the console maker's "evergreen" hits to take up long-term residence on the sales charts, finished in 10th place.
Microsoft also scored a rare top 10 finish for the week. Lionhead's latest, Fable III, sold 20,025 copies at launch, good enough for the Xbox 360-exclusive action adventure game to secure eighth place.
The hardware race was reshuffled a bit this week, as sales were up almost across the board. Only the aged DS Lite saw its unit sales slip, while its successor, the DSi, more than doubled its numbers week-over-week. The DSi's 32,2137 units sold was good enough for second place, as the PSP continued its strong run in Japan with another 38,874 sold. The Sony portable's UMD-less cousin, the PSP Go, saw the largest sales spike for the week in terms of percentage, as it more than tripled the previous week's sub-1,000 performance to finish with 3,031 units sold. While not exactly a chart topper, it was still good enough to get the system out of the sales chart cellar and ahead of both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox 360.
JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF OCTOBER 25-31, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Gods Eater Burst / Namco Bandai / PSP / 263,150
2. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2011 / Konami / PS3 / 215,257
3. Super Mario All-Stars / Nintendo / Wii / 119,485
4. Pokemon Black and White / The Pokemon Company / DS / 68,686
5. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn / Nintendo / DS / 46,516
6. Kirby's Epic Yarn / Nintendo / Wii / 25,257
7. Solatorobo: Sore kara Coda e / Namco Bandai / DS / 21,915
8. Fable III / Microsoft / 360 / 20,025
9. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 / Namco Bandai / PS3 / 19,090
10. Wii Party / Nintendo / Wii / 17,337
Hardware:
PSP - 38,874
DSi LL - 32,137
PS3 - 28,255
DSi - 23,614
Wii - 12,710
DS Lite - 3,375
PSP Go - 3,031
Xbox 360 - 2,669
PS2 - 1,400
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
50 comments
Saije sorry i did not mean it that way just saying a hate fps games and ppl that make them out to be so dang good i think ppl need to try new stuff here in there heh i love the us i have no hate sorry if it came out that way
@BillyColeman Hey don't just stereotype all the gamers in the U.S. Like that. It makes you look ignorant, which I'm sure is not what your going for. The beautiful thing about gaming is diversity, there is a little something for everyone, that being said I do have to agree that FPS' form probably the lowest rung on the Gaming evolutionary ladder. I'm so damn tired of the U.S. hate. Were not all just one big pool of blue blooded, lying, hypocritical, moronic, politicians you know. So think about that before lobbing us all into one category.
EVERY single time I read "Big in Japan" I think: "Here comes another stupid fanboy war..." Seriously. Just play a game, have fun and grow up people!
God eater looks like a great portable game from what I've seen, and it's always a good thing when you're being compared to a series like Monster Hunter :P
glaceya maybe you need to start playing sum real games if all you own a 360 for is to play fps i feel sorry for you. you call them real games? most fps are just dumb repetes of other shooters Modern Warefare .....if you love it so much why not join the real war .........thats why usa gamers bug me
360hammer heh try playing monster hunter f on the 360 theres so meny players from japan i did not no that meny ppl from japan had 360s lol i do now
god eater is a wast looks like a mix of psu and monster hunter copying mh is good but psu wast not to japan thou
@ glaceya I'm pretty sure the only country buying 360's is America. I'm also pretty sure the PS3 has outsold 360 in Europe and has been out selling 360 in America for months now. Maybe you should try playing other games besides CoD and drinking saki, who knows you might finally understand the influence Japan has on gaming.
the center of the gaming universe is not in Japan, it's in the states and europe and the 360 still sells much better than any sony system there. no one plays Modern Warefare over there, they got to stop hitting that Saki, and start playing some real games
The PS2 still kicking... P5 anyone? There is so much news about how well this game this is doing.. seriously sucks that we have to read these and not be able to play it yet
They need to bring some of these PSP games to the PS3 and some of these Japanese games to North America.
I think there was a poll from Nintendo that said many people did not know about the 3DS and thought it was too expensive. Not many sales for the 3DS seem possible.
Second helping of Namco Bandai multiplayer monster hunting game tops a quarter million sold in first week; latest release of Winning Eleven, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Fable II also make top 10. do you:?
@SolidTy, ppl buying psp gonow for collectors items. japanese ppl go nut with this stuff. why you think the ds and dsis are selling so well when 3ds is so close....
oldboy 88 i said the same thing a few weeks ago lol, they also could be selling them to americans on ebay also
im gonna say most of the 360s being sold are being bought by american navy being put in japan. i've always thought that when reading these. its more than likely true as well.
dslite still out sold psp go , dsi and dsixl/ll sold more then psp when combined nintendo wii sales at least increased by 1 thousand , nice to see things going back up for nintendo especally software
When I read that Fable 2 made the top ten, I was like Fable 2?? Really?? Then I knew it was a typo and it meant Fable 3. And what's with the sudden increase in sales for the PSP Go? I mean I know they reduced the price, but still... it's the Go.
When I read Fable 2 made the top ten in the title, i was like Fable 2??? Really?? Then I knew it's a typo lol. And why the sudden increase in sales for the PSP Go? I know they reduced the price for it, but still...
So what Gamespot is telling me, is that in Japan, there is not only one, but three games that outsold a Pokemon game!?
20,025 copies of fable III in Japan? =O That means every single person who owns a 360 in Japan bought a copy...
I'd hardly call being in the top 10 "tanking" though. Plus, Nintendo games tend to sell for a long time after release versus spiking then dropping to nothing.
At this point a Kirby game is just a Kirby game. There is no special reason to rush out and purchase it cause you pretty much know what you're gonna get, and not many people will debate about it cause it's just Kirby.
I did not expect Kirby to tank this bad in Japan, it seems like no region is really embracing the title.
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