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Pokemon Diamond And Pearl, Nintendo DS Top Japanese Sales Charts

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Hardware, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360,

The guys at the NeoGAF forums have translated Media Create’s sales numbers for the week ending 10/1. As expected, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl dominated the software chart. Diamond sold slightly better than Pearl. The two combined to sell 1,588,734 units over four days. Three PS2 titles made the top ten, including the latest in the .hack series, and Minna no Tennis. The rest were pretty much the standard stock list of DS titles gamers are used to seeing on the list.

On the hardware side, Nintendo moved 274,389 DS Lite consoles, trouncing the rest of the pack. The Playstation 2 came in second with 31,992 units sold, and the Xbox 360 nearly doubled sales to 2,195; The release of Dead Rising probably contributed to this.

Famistu Shows Off Detailed Playstation 3 Images

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,

PS3 vs PS2 Famitsu released a bunch of detailed images from the Playstation 3 20GB and 60GB model, including some comparisons with the original Playstation 2. The 20GB and 60GB models look very similar, of course, with a different bezel color across the front. The 60GB model also adds the various flash media slots under the front flap. A long string of logos adorns the console, with all the multimedia options it supports, including Blu-Ray, DVD-ROM, Super Audio CD, and Dolby TRUEHD. The new SIXAXIS controller is also compared with the old Dual Shock, and some other changes have been made beyond wireless support and the lack of rumble. Famitsu highlights changes to the L2 and R2 triggers; it looks like these are shaped slightly differently and have a larger range of motion than the Dual Shock.

More Japanese PS3 Software Priced, Dated

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Puzzle, SEGA,

Famitsu recently released the pricing and availability information for a bunch of the Playstation 3 launch window titles in Japan, and Game|Life has a translation. The price list shows information for six of the launch day titles, and three launch window titles, ranging from 5040 Yen ($43) for budget titles to the high end of 8190 Yen ($70) for Armored Core 4. The other titles fall somewhere between the two, with first party titles like Resistance: Fall of Man and Genji 2 priced at 5980 Yen, about $50, and third-party titles like Ridge Racer 7 and Sonic The Hedgehog falling between 7140 Yen ($61) to 7329 Yen ($62). So, at least for right now, it looks like gamers in Japan can expect pretty standard next generation game pricing with only the occasional wallet buster.

Sony Announces Japanese PS3 Accessory Prices

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3,

PS2-PS3 Adapter Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan announced today the pricing and availability of some of the accessories for the PS3 in that territory. On launch day, November 11th, gamers will be able to purchase additional wireless SIXAXIS controllers for 5000 Yen, roughly $42 US. Gamers looking to play their old Playstation 2 games on their new console will also want to pick up a memory card adapter, listed at 1500 Yen ($13 US), also available on launch day. The memory card adapter is a USB device that allows users to copy their PS1 and PS2 saves to the internal hard drive of the Playstation 3. Finally, the BD-ROM remote will ship on December 7th, for 3600 Yen ($31 US). Since the PS3 controllers are wireless, there is less of a pressing demand for a fully functioning BD-ROM remote, but it would have been nice to see the device on launch day.

Latest Japanese Software Sales Charts

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Hardware, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2,

The latest Media Create Japanese software sales for the week ending 9/25 have been released, and basically, the DS continues to dominate the charts. Sony’s Minna No Tennis held on to the top spot, though, continuing the popularity of the series. Final Fantasy III and New Super Mario Bros. took second and third, with essentially 500 sales separating the two. The Nintendo Tingle RPG is still hanging around the top ten. Hopefully, the game will be a surprising success and will encourage a US release.

There was no big shake up in hardware sales this week, either, with Nintendo moving 139,835 DS consoles to take the top spot. The PS2 pulled in second at 32,673, followed by the PSP at 23,118. The Xbox 360 managed to rebound from its sub-1000 showing last week to sell 1,109 units. Hopefully this will see a significant bump come November and December as the new bundles hit the market.

Next week, expect Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sales to hit the charts, and DS sales to jump as special edition consoles hit the market.

Japan Again Goes Pokemon Crazy

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo DS, Role Playing Games,

Poke-nut It would be pretty safe to say that gamers should expect that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for the Nintendo DS will debut at the top of the Japanese software sales list this week. Past releases have shown that new releases of the Nintendo DS will spawn large lines in Japan; a special edition Pokemon DS combined with the latest game in the franchise was enough to draw the Japanese out in huge numbers. At times the lines for the game and special edition DS reached over 5 hours long, with over a thousand gamers waiting in some locations. Nintendo’s Pokemon Centers in Japan also looked to be hosting special events for the game’s release as well. Famitsu has a bunch of pictures of gamers lining up to buy the game and the special edition DS, along with some images of the unusual promotions going on with the new release. The game is scheduled for a release in the US some time in 2007.

Kaz Hirai Talks Playstation 3 Launch

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PlayStation 3,

Kaz Hirai Speaks Gamespot was able to catch up with Kaz Hirai at the Tokyo Game Show, and get some further details for the US launch that weren’t readily apparent from their keynote. Hirai’s focus for the US launch seems to be maintaining momentum; having a good set of launch titles is good, but Sony is equally concerned with making sure that the software keeps flowing each additional week past launch. Certainly this has been a problem for console launches in the past, where the Xbox 360 had a number of great launch titles, but follow-on titles really didn’t happen until the next year. Similarly, the PSP was heralded for its great launch line-up, but again, Sony didn’t have additional A-list titles immediately available post launch.

Hirai’s other concerns are console supply. He again reiterated that there should be approximately 400,000 units available for the US launch. He hopes to have 1 million units in the US by the end of the year, and despite Japan’s initial shortage, another million plus shipped to Japan. Part of Sony’s efforts to get as many PS3 systems into the US will include air freight shipments. Most of these units will be the premium edition; Hirai stated that this is mainly due to the desires of the retail supply chain. Major retailers overwhelmingly wanted the 60GB unit, so that’s what consumers are getting. Time will tell to see if this changes with the announcement of included HDMI in every PS3.

Finally, Hirai also confirmed that the PS3 network would be available from day one, supporting online registration, online gaming, and content downloads. Hirai’s video interview runs approximately 7.5 minutes and can be viewed on Gamespot.

Sony Adds HDMI, Drops Price Of Core Playstation 3 In Japan

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,

During Sony’s keynote at the Tokyo Game Show, it was announced that both the core and premium configurations of the Playstation 3 would now include HDMI 1.3 support. In addition, the pricing of the 20 GB core unit was set at 49,800 Yen, roughly $425 US. Sony’s reasoning for including the HDMI port in the lower cost console is that the adoption of HDMI accelerated faster than Sony expected, so they felt that component now made sense for all models. Sony’s specifications on their official Japanese Playstation 3 site have been updated to reflect the change. No announcement for any pricing adjustment was made for the US, nor was any mention as to whether the United States version of the core console would get an HDMI port.

Update: The core console will feature the HDMI port in all territories, but the US price will remain fixed at $499

Ninja Gaiden To Appear On PS3

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, PlayStation 3,

Ninja Gaiden Xbox Famitsu has reported that a new game in the Ninja Gaiden series will be heading to the Playstation 3. The game will be titled Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but it is unknown at this time whether this will be a completely new entry in the franchise, or an upgrade of a previous installment. Famitsu mentioned that the game will feature graphical upgrades, and gameplay changes including the ability to wield dual katanas and play as different characters.

Microsoft’s Tokyo Game Show Presentation

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,

Microsoft just conducted their Tokyo Game Show presentation, and Kotaku was able to live-blog the event. Some of the key announcements include:

Core System, Hard Drive, Live Vision Camera, and Wireless Headset availability on November 2nd
HD DVD drive to be available on November 22nd, for 20,790 Yen (~$176)
HD DVD drive will support full 1080P.
Xbox Live Arcade Titles: Yie Ar Kung Fu to be Japan exclusive. Gyruss, Rush’n Attack, New Rally-X also announced for Live Arcade.
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 will ship November 15 in the US and November 22 in Japan
Peter Moore promises 50 exclusive titles for Japanese market
Tri-Ace’s upcoming Infinite Undiscovery gameplay was not shown

Kotaku has a bunch more detail from the conference. It certainly looks like Microsoft is still actively trying to penetrate the Japanese market, but even with all the hardware and software announcements, they still do not have a really compelling offering for the Japanese gamer.

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