Sony consoles always sell well over new year's in Japan.  

http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly/41280/Japan/

Check the percentage increases on hardware for PS3/PSP/PSV compared to all the other consoles in the chart.

Japanese people spend their Christmas money in that week and tastes are different.  In the run up to Christmas, Nintendo consoles sell proportionally more because they're being bought as gifts.  After holidays, people tend to buy Sony consoles for themselves.  3DS aside, of course, which gets bought no matter what because it's the strongest console in the region.

edit: That Otoshidama stuff in the link was what I was talking about.

It'll be interesting to see how much Vita beats last year's 31k by, though.  And it'll also be interesting to see what Wii-U does this time around.

P.S. I read somewhere that Famitsu were releasing some numbers tomorrow for the week we've missed, but I'm not entirely certain on that.

I loved Tearaway, it was a cute story with great gameplay mechanics, but I totally liked Gravity Rush more than Tearaway. In general it was a great adventure. I loved the fact that some chapters of the story were selfcontained stories, and I almost felt like I was play a Superhero TV series. For GR2 they need to include more "selfcontained stories" in the main story and as side missions. (Fun as hell)

And talking about GR2, they really need to improve some mechanics because sometimes it was difficult to control Kat. And, eventhough some side missions were interesting (like the one about the couple from another dimension -it sounds more interesting than it actually is lol-), they really need to make better side missions (like the "self contained stories").

OMG, I'm so hyped for GR2. In general I liked GR more than both Infamous games and as much as the first two Arkham games.

Don't Starve coming to Vita! OMG! Those are the kind of games the Vita needs. 

Another hunting game? Why? We already have God Eater 2 and Soul Sacrifice and SS Delta. Geez, I'm also dissapointed, I was expecting an awesome JRPG.  

And Toukiden.  And Ragnarok Odyssey Ace.  And Lord of Apocalpyse.  

Sometimes I wonder what games Sony would be making if Monster Hunter had just come to the PSV.  Sigh.

Tearaway
Persona 4 Golden
LBP Vita
Ys Celceta
Guacameele

and since you have ps+ download Gravity Rush and maby soul sacrifice but while i quite enjoyed that one it doesn't seem to be everyone's cup of tea.

edit: and as far as racing games go NFS Most Wanted and WhipeOut 2048 (this one was/is on ps+ as well i think?) are quite good as well.

This would make my day.
And things are looking radiant for Vita in 2014, in Japan at least.

How fanservicy/ kawaii are the Atelier games ?

I can´t stand the moe stuff Compile Hearts shits out, the artstyle of the Atelier games is right at the edge of something I could enjoy.

Is there anything comparable on the market ? Final Fantasy X with a bit of Harvest Moon ?

Mario and Luigi with Rune Factory-flavour sprincled in ?

i absolutely adore the atelier games... as you might b able to tell. I'd say you should definitly give one a try. In my opinion Meruru is easier because it lets you carry more things into a new game+ but most people prefer totori's story. I enjoyed both, still need to get Meruru on Vita.

I think it's pretty diferent from compile hearts games, more cutesy in my opinion.

The games are very cutesy.  If you can't stomach that, you won't have fun with Atelier.  I didn't find there was very much pandering/risque stuff or anything like you'd find in a Compile Heart game, really.

In fact, aside from the main character normally being a moe girl, the rest of the cast normally ends up being quite normal by JRPG standards.  To use the most recent game I played (Atelier Ayesha), there was a dragon hunter; a miner; a young witch & a swordswoman as your playable cast.

In terms of what it's comparable to... hmm.  Combat is very traditional.  Turn based with a counter telling you whose turn is coming up (similar to FF X I guess).  Your time will normally be filled with one of two things.  Either exploring areas for materials while fighting monsters, or doing alchemy.  The alchemy system is fairly straightforward, you just combine certain quantities of materials together to make new things.  Each material has a quality grade (i.e. A; B; C etc.) and the better quality material, the less of it you have to use to make something.

The story isn't typical JRPG "save the world" stuff.  You're normally given one task from the outset (e.g. In Ayesha, it's to find your sister) and you go off exploring new towns and areas which slowly advances you towards this.  There's a lot of character interaction.  Depending on who you have in your party at the time, different events will play in different towns and new parts of the story will open up.  So for example, if you have the dragon hunter character in your party in Ayesha, a new story thread will open up where you help him hunt down and kill a dragon that destroyed his town many years ago.

Also be aware that all the games have a time limit, but it's not something you should worry about too much.  You have 3 years for all of them (iirc) and every action you do in the gameuses up time.  Pick some materials - time will pass.  Move around the world map - time will pass.  People complain about it but it never really bothered me.  You'll be able to finish the main story well within the time limit (I think I finished Ayesha after ~ 2 in game years) and you can use the rest of the time to finish up the optional stories as you see fit.

Honestly, Atelier was a massive surprise for me.  I really enjoyed Totori and Ayesha.  They're a refreshing change of pace from normal games.  They're a lot more relaxed and easy going, never taking themselves too seriously.  And there's a lot of fun to be had in them too.

Hope this helps!

Oh also, ask Rutea about them.

edit: Nvm, lol :P

Kresnik is right, there might be some inuendo but it's not very risque. The most risque I've seen in an Atelier game is this

Thank you both, especially Kresnik for the elaborate answer :P ( I almost feel bad for not even trying Shinobido 2 once to tell you how it is DX )

Well, that does sound pretty good to be honest. I don´t have anything against a cute protagonist (It´s just that I absolutely can´t stand Compile Hearts´ pandering child-moe-waifus that have eyes that look as big as the moon from Majora´s Mask itself).

Turn based battle systems are a plus in my book (as long as they are relatively fast).

The premise of "just" searching for your sister sounds neat too.

I have 2 remaining question... If you´d be so kind:

Which is the best to start the series ?  ...physical release in Europe ?