Bumper software week stimulates Japanese market

As nine new entries hit the Japanese software chart, the game-buying public snapped up 1.44 million new titles that made up just the top ten last week.

According to data from Media Create for the sales week ending November 25 Dragon Quest IV saw one of the biggest releases of the year, selling 597,000 copies in its first week and going straight in at number one.

The latest Winning Eleven title from Konami took second and third places for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 respectively - the former outsold the latter by two to one, although the install base of the PS3 is of course still much smaller at this point.

Other notable new entries to make the top ten included Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess for the PlayStation 2 - only making fifth place with 68,000 units - and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games in sixth.

Mario Party DS was the only survivor from last week's top ten - it held steady in fourth position.

The Xbox 360 editions of Winning Eleven and Final Fantasy XI both made the top 30, in 18th and 26th positions respectively.

The full top ten is as follows:

1. Dragon Quest IV (DS)
2. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2)
3. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (PS3)
4. Mario Party DS (DS)
5. Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess (PS2)
6. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
7. Dinosaur King: The Seven Fragments (DS)
8. Mega Man Star Force 2: Berserk Ã- Shinobi (DS)
9. Mega Man Star Force 2: Berserk Ã- Dinosaur (DS)
10. Pachinko Assassin III: Iron Pachi-Chonmage 13 (PS2)