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Big in Japan Jan. 24-30: The Last Story, Valkyria Chronicles 3

Mistwalker's latest Wii RPG and Sega's PSP strategy sequel take top two spots as new releases dominate Japanese sales charts.

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If the Wii role-playing game The Last Story really is the final game from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, at least the revered developer gets to go out on top. Tracking firm Media Create has released its Japanese sales charts for the week of January 24-30, with The Last Story in the best-seller spot for its debut week.

The Last Story may yet serve as a happy ending for Sakaguchi's career.
The Last Story may yet serve as a happy ending for Sakaguchi's career.

The Last Story sold 114,722 copies in its first week on sale, leading a flood of new releases that claimed seven of the top 10 spots on the charts. Sega's PSP strategy RPG Valkyria Chronicles III was a relatively close second, selling 102,779 copies for the week. Other notable new releases in the top 10 included the latest Kenka Banchou title from Spike (fourth place with 58,977 sold) and the Japanese debut of BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins for the PS3 (sixth place with 42,854 sold).

As might be expected, the three titles that retained a spot in the top 10 were the three best-sellers from the week prior. Former sales champ Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (Final Mix) slipped all the way to ninth place, selling 20,528, while the previous week's third-place finisher, Donkey Kong Country, rounded out the top 10 with 19,214 sold. The January 17-23 runner-up, Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 3, showed the most staying power of the group, finishing the week in seventh place with 33,338 sold.

On the hardware front, the pecking order remained the same. Sony's PSP led the pack once again with 34,648 sold, followed by the PS3, which managed to move 25,149 new systems into Japanese gamers' homes. Although the Wii remained in third place, it did see a notable uptick in sales, with 19,448 sold compared to 14,547 the week prior.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF JANUARY 24-30, 2011
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. The Last Story / Nintendo / Wii / 114,722
2. Valkyria Chronicles 3 / Sega / PSP / 102,779
3. Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii wake ga Nai Portable / Namco Bandai / PSP / 88,493
4. Kenka Banchou 5: Otoko no Housoku / Spike / PSP / 58,977
5. Toaru Majutsu no Index / ASCII Media Works / PSP / 56,017
6. Dragon Age: Origins / Spike / PS3 / 42,854
7. Monster Hunter Portable 3 / Capcom / PSP / 33,338
8. Dream C Club Zero / D3 Publisher / Xbox 360 / 21,734
9. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (Final Mix) / Square Enix / PSP / 20,528
10. Donkey Kong Country Returns / Nintendo / Wii / 19,214

Hardware:
PSP - 34,648
PS3 - 25,149
Wii - 19,448
DSi LL - 11,891
DSi - 9,611
Xbox 360 - 3,513
PS2 - 1,938
DS Lite - 1,059
PSP Go - 280

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