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Big in Japan Sept. 28-Oct.4: Wii Fit Plus, Gran Turismo PSP win

Nintendo's revamped version of Balance Board pack-in sells over 300,000 in week where new releases claim six of top 10 spots.

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Nintendo's Wii Fit and Balance Board combo has been one of the Mario factory's biggest hits since its original late 2007 launch in Japan. The company has similar expectations for its follow-up, Wii Fit Plus, which is one of Nintendo's three tent pole Wii titles this holiday season. The early returns on Wii Fit Plus are positive, as the game enjoyed a strong launch in Japan, capturing the top spot on Media Create's top10 software sales charts for the week of September 28 through October 4 with more than 339,000 copies sold.

The Balance Board is back on top.
The Balance Board is back on top.

Wii Fit Plus wasn't the only new release on the charts. Sony's long-awaited PSP entry into the Gran Turismo franchise debuted in fourth place, while the PlayStation 3 saw a pair of hot launches from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (seventh spot on the charts) and Koei's PS3 version of Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce (ninth place). Slightly less familiar to Western audiences was a pair of other new releases on the charts, Namco's PSP Robotech game Macross Ultimate Frontier (fifth place) and Level Five's DS role-playing game Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryokusha, which ranked second when its Fire and Blizzard variants were combined.

With its Fire and Blizzard versions, Inazuma Eleven 2 actually managed to beat the great granddaddy of variant portable role-playing games, Nintendo's Pokemon series. Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver combined sold enough copies to take the third spot on the charts. Other Nintendo titles with continued strong performances include the DS Tomodachi Collection (sixth place) and Wii Sports Resort (eight place).

While Sony launched the PSP Go in Europe and North America October 1, the system won't make its Japanese debut until November. However, the Gran Turismo and Macross Ultimate Frontier launches were enough to push new PSP hardware sales for the week ended October 4 to 51,215, a close second to the 53,293 units sold of the retaining hardware champion, Nintendo's DSi. The Sony and Nintendo roles were reversed on the console front, where the PS3 and its recently reduced price point pushed sales to 37,538, edging out the Wii and its 35,392 systems sold.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 4, 2009

Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1) Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 339,687
2) Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryokusha Fire and Blizzard / Level Five / DS / 280,598
3) Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver / Nintendo / DS / 267,127
4) Gran Turismo / SCE / PSP / 134,331
5) Macross Ultimate Frontier / Namco / PSP / 80,930
6) Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 67,887
7) Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 / Tecmo / PS3 / 41,960
8) Wii Sports Resort / Nintendo / Wii / 26,727
9) Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce / Koei / PS3 / 26,548
10) Tales of Vesperia / Namco Bandai / PS3 / 26,465

Hardware:
DSi - 53,293
PSP - 51,215
PS3 - 37,538
Wii - 35,392
DS Lite - 10,661
Xbox 360 - 4,244
PS2 - 2,179

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