Nintendo dominates Japanese software and hardware charts

Dragon Quest IX continued its domination of the Japanese software chart this week with sales that are dropping, but still far exceeding those of its competition.

The Nintendo DS game sold 270,000 units, down on the 613,000 figure of the previous week but still easily enough to keep the title in the number one position for a third week running.

Its nearest contender, Friend Collection sold 74,000 copies to move it two places up the chart from last week's number four. Wii Sports Resort, meanwhile, sold a near identical number to retain its number three position.

New entries for the week included Nintendo's Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji, which entered at number five with 35,000 sales; and Katamari Damacy Tribute for PlayStation 3, which débuted at number six.

Ketekyoo Hitman Reborn is another new entry, which takes its place at number seven with 28,000 copies sold.

In the hardware chart, the Nintendo DS retained its familiar number one position with sales only slightly down from last week - 92,747 compared to 96,986.

The PlayStation Portable meanwhile saw a significant sales increase, selling 30,523 in comparison to the previous week's 24,053.

Nintendo Wii sales were also slightly up, to 23,995 from 20,807. A further sales increase could be felt in time for next week's chart following the release of the much anticipated Monster Hunter 3 onto the platform on August 1.

Sales for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 remained very similar to last week's, and all three systems remained in the same chart positions.

The full Media Create software chart for the period July 20-26 is as follows:

01 Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky (NDS)
02 Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) (NDS)
03 Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
04 Penguin no Mondai: Tenkuu no Senshi (NDS)
05 Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji (NDS)
06 Katamari Damacy Tribute (PS3)
07 Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Flame Rumble X - Mirai Chou-Bakuhatsu!! (NDS)
08 Pro Baseball Spirits 6 (PS2)
09 Pro Baseball Spirits 6 (PS3)
10 Monster Hunter Portable 2G (Best) (PS3)
The Media Create hardware chart for the same period is as follows:

01 Nintendo DS - 92,747
02 PlayStation Portable - 30,523
03 Nintendo Wii - 23,995
04 PlayStation 3 - 8997
05 PlayStation 2 - 3305
06 Xbox 360 - 3080

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ardware-charts