Kingdom Hearts and Ace Attorney boost Japanese chart

After months of weak sales, the release of a large number of new titles has finally seen the Japanese software chart return to something like its previous health.

The highest new entry of the week was Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the Nintendo DS, with a highly impressive 295,000 units sold. The spin-off from the popular Final Fantasy and Disney crossover series is due for release in the West later this year.

New at number two was fellow spin-off Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, which has also recently been confirmed for a Western release this year. The latest entry in Capcom's cult adventure series for the DS sold 172,000 units on its debut.

Entering the charts at number three was Shin Sangoku Musou 5: Empires (aka Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires) on PlayStation 3, the strategy-tinged spin-off which is now traditionally released after every mainline sequel. The game was released simultaneously on both PS3 and Xbox 360, with the PS3 version selling 76,000 units and the 360 version at number ten 17,000 units.

Together with Sega's Let's Make A Baseball Team! 2 at number nine, Level-5's Sloan And Michael's Story at number four was the only survivor from the previous week's chart. However sales rapidly began to decline at this point, with Marvelous' role-playing game Yuusha 30 (aka Half-Minute Hero) for PSP selling only 26,000 units at number five.

Alchemist's visual novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna: Dai San Kan - Rasen on DS sold 23,000 units at number six, while Aqua Plus' anime tie-in Utawarerumono Portable on PSP sold 22,000 units at number seven.

Following the release of the 360 version in April, the PS3 version of Tom Clancy's HAWX also managed to penetrate the top ten, with 19,000 unit sales at number eight.

The full list is as follows:

1. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS)
2. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)
3. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires (PS3)
4. Sloan And Michael's Story (DS)
5. Half-Minute Hero (PSP)
6. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna: Dai San Kan - Rasen (DS)
7. Utawarerumono Portable (PSP)
8. Tom Clancy's HAWX (PS3)
9. Let's Make A Baseball Team 2 (DS)
10. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires (360)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...japanese-chart