Japan Charts: Another number one for Square Enix

Japanese publisher-developer Square Enix has scored yet another domestic success, with new RPG title Drag-on Dragoon (also known as Drakengard) going straight in at number one in the Japanese software rankings.

The PS2 title sold some 122,000 units in its first week on sale, displacing Bandai's Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space from the top spot - although the Gundam title continued to sell strongly in its second week at retail.

Several other new releases also performed fairly well, with Sega's Gekito Pro Baseball: Mizushima Shinji All Stars VS Pro Baseball (PS2) selling about 55,000 units and appearing at number three, while Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life on the GameCube sold 23,000 units and debuted at number seven.

In fact, the market this week performed quite strongly despite the end of the summer vacation in Japan, and over 681,000 units were shifted by the top 100 titles overall - well ahead of the same week last year, when around half a million units were sold.

The only other new release in the top ten was GBA title Naruto: Konoha Senki, which is based on the hugely popular anime series Naruto - its release follows the success of a GameCube Naruto title earlier this year.

In hardware terms, nobody will be shocked to learn that the GBA is still way out in front as the most popular console in Japan, with over 47 per cent of the market (GBA original with 8.71 per cent, GBA SP with 38.32 per cent). PS2 and GameCube take their usual second and third places, with 35.11 per cent and 15.99 per cent respectively. Meanwhile Microsoft slips behind in its desperate attempt to overtake, er, the PSone - this week Sony's aging platform is in fourth place with 0.76 per cent market share, while the Xbox manages only 0.67 per cent.

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