Japan Charts: DS continues to sell strongly despite software slump

Nintendo's DS continues to sell extremely well in Japan despite an overall fall in software sales across all platforms, with the handheld console selling through a further 58,579 units last week and taking almost half of the market share.

The continued success of the console comes even as the Japanese game software market quietens down at the end of the summer holidays, with sales dropping by almost 40 per cent week on week and only one new title in the top ten.

Namco's PS2 RPG title Tales of Legendia continues to be the best selling title in the chart, followed by Nintendo's two "brain training" titles on the DS - DS Training for Adults: Work Your Brain at number two, and Gentle Brain Exercises at number three.

The only new entry is Sony's PSP beat 'em up title, BLEACH: Heat the Soul 2, which is based on the hugely popular anime and manga title BLEACH and follows on from a previous PSP title, launched earlier this year.

Three other anime licensed titles also make it into the ranking, with Bandai's Gundam Seed Destiny: Generation of CE action title on the PS2 at number four, Nintendo's DS title Jump Super Stars at number seven, and Bandai's PS2 game Naruto: Uzumaki Ninden at number eight.

In hardware terms, the PS2 and PSP continue to trail the Nintendo DS, managing sales of just 26,000 and 22,610 units respectively. The DS has now built a lead of over 360,000 units over the PSP in Japan this year alone, and leads the PS2 by over 200,000 units.