You'd think having a numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series would give the Xbox 360 a boost in Japan. But this didn't happen. Final Fantasy XIII's Xbox 360 version was released last week to Japan and failed to place in the top 20, meaning it sold less than 22,600 units (the sales figure for number 20). Xbox 360 hardware failed to see a boost even as other systems began to see the start of their annual year-end sales surges.
The Xbox 360 version of FFXIII was released to Japan about a year after its PS3 counterpart. Square Enix gave it budget pricing and released it as an "international" version, with English voiceovers and the english theme song "My Hands." In terms of content, the game was given a new easy mode. For collectors, the game shipped with a booklet containing artwork, a look at unused event scenes, and a newly created after story.
The biggest selling game for the week was once again Monster Hunter Freedom 3, which sold an additional 581,543 units, bringing its total above the 3 million mark. In Japan, MHF3 is the fastest selling PSP game ever, and looks like it could be on track to at least match its predecessor's 4 million plus sales.
Other new debuts this week included Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, whose PS3 version debuted in 2nd place, Inazuma Eleven 3 The Ogre in 3rd place and Shining Hearts in 6th. The Ogre is a third version of Inazuma Eleven 3 -- think of it as Pokemon Platinum to Pokemon Diamond & Pearl.
Debuting outside of the top 10 were Castlevania Lords of Shadow on PS3 and Call of Duty Black Ops Dubbed Version, also on PS3. Castlevania was given a sizable push from Konami, with a localization handled by Kojima Productions, voice actors from the Metal Gear series, and a PS3 bundle that included a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4. The dubbed version of Black Ops was actually the second release for the game. The original November release was subtitled and topped the charts in its first week with 129,000 sales.
Here's the Media Create top 20 covering 12/13 to 12/19:
1. Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom, PSP): 581,543 (3,161,801)
2. Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 (Namco Bandai, PS3): 185,908
3. Inazuma Eleven 3: The Ogre (Level-5, DS): 175,604
4. Donkey Kong Returns (Nintendo, Wii): 152,990 (316,300)
5. Pokemon Black & White (Pokemon, DS): 115,438 (4,744,211)
6. Shining Hearts (Sega, PSP): 106,733
7. Wii Party (Nintendo, Wii): 92,949 (1,411,824)
8. Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo, Wii): 87,114 (299,534)
9. Ni no Kuni (Level-5, DS): 74,329 (244,877)
10. Mario vs Donkey Kong Totsugeki! Mini Land (Nintendo, DS): 54,628 (163,929)
11. Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo, Wii): 46,392 (304,600)
12. Super Fossil fighters (Nintendo, DS): 41,103 (161,748)
13. Tongari Boushi to Mahou no Omise (Konami, DS): 38,140 (175,195)
14. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii): 37,239 (123,348)
15. Super Mario Collection Special Pack (Nintendo, Wii): 29,872 (742,861)
16. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 27,543 (4,106,019)
17. Castlevania Lords of Shadow (Konami, PS3): 27,155
18. Taiko Drum Master Wii 3 (Namco Bandai, Wii): 26,970 (77,509)
19. Call of Duty Black Ops Dubbed Version (Square Enix, PS3): 23,253
20. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 22,579 (3,044,425)
In the hardware race, PSP remained at the top, although the DS's combined total is approaching the Sony portable. Wii continued to see a sales spike. Nintendo hardware tends to spike towards the end of the year.
Here's the full hardware chart.
1. PSP: 162,558 (158,029)
2. Wii: 99,681 (79,424)
3. DSi LL: 72,146 (59,709)
4. DSi: 71,804 (55,993)
5. PS3: 49,515 (41,882)
6. DS Lite: 4,227 (3,309)
7. X360: 3,726 (3,695)
8. PS2: 2,188 (2,054)
9. PSP go: 1,949 (1,904)
http://ie.xbox360.ign.com/articles/114/1141517p1.html
