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This Week In Sales: The Golden Week Effect

By Ishaan . May 16, 2010 . 6:21pm

This Week In Sales: The Golden Week Effect

On account of Golden Week, there were no new releases in Japan the week of May 3rd – 9th. Here’s the usual top-ten chart, but be sure to look at the one below it as well:

 

LwTwTitleTw. SalesTot. SalesSys.Publisher
01.01.Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2252,862876,505DSSquare Enix
02.02.Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker140,591574,957PSPKonami
04.03.New Super Mario Bros. Wii46,6903,806,779WiiNintendo
07.04.Tomodachi Collection33,3423,190,794DSNintendo
06.05.Mario Kart Wii32,3402,771,000WiiNintendo
10.06.Wii Fit Plus23,3141,890,761WiiNintendo
03.07.Super Street Fighter IV20,084101,147PS3Capcom
12.08.Pokémon Ranger: Tracks of Light20,007446,000DSThe Pokémon Company
16.09.Wii Sports Resort15,9021,886,000WiiNintendo
09.10.NieR Replicant15,85896,921PS3Square Enix

 

In its second week, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is holding up better than Metal Gear Solid 4 did. Where MGS4 reached 533,000 units its second week, Peace Walker is at 574,957.

 

Aside from that, the top-ten isn’t all that thrilling, is it? But the fact that there weren’t any new releases doesn’t mean nothing of interest happened. Take a look at this second chart:

 

LwTwTitleSys.Publisher
11.11.Pro Baseball Spirits 2010PSPKonami
21.12.New Super Mario Bros.DSNintendo
18.13.Pro Baseball Spirits 2010PS3Konami
17.14.Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (the Best)PSPCapcom
09.15.The Legend of Zelda: Spirit TracksDSNintendo
26.16.Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul SilverDSThe Pokémon Company
29.20.Dragon Quest IX (Ultimate Hits)DSSquare Enix
40.21.Mario Kart DSDSNintendo
35.22.Inazuma Eleven 2 Fire / BlizzardDSLevel-5
42.28.Taiko Drum Master Wii 2WiiNamco Bandai
39.29.Super Smash Bros. BrawlWiiNintendo

 

See all those huge jumps from “last week” to “this week”? It appears the lack of new releases provided a chance for older titles that resonated with the Japanese audience to creep their way up the chart as Golden Week kicked in. These are the games with relatively longer tails that keep selling consistently every week. In the absence of new products, a relatively large portion of the market tends to fall back on them.

 

All sales data provided by the Media Create group.


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  • Aoshi00

    Is it just me or do people have no prob w/ Peace Walker sorely missing a 2nd analog stick? I’m using the action control scheme now because my brain just can’t coordinate turning the camera w/ the face btns (not fast enough during the heat of battles anyway, plus the game doesn’t pause when you switch items/weapons from the menu), but then moving around w/ the analog stick, and then stop and use the d-pad to turn is not the most friendly method either.. overall I just find the PSP btn set up very cumbersome for a MGS game, I have never felt a MGS game’s control to be this hard, and why can’t Snake crawl anyway? It’s a well made game no doubt, but definitely not 40/40 from Famitsu..

    I would play it for the story, but the game is pretty hard, some levels/boss fights are just too overwhelming for single player, like they’re designed w/ multiplayer in mind..

    • Kris

      I don’t know, I’ve been playing the demo and haven’t had too much trouble. It definitely is a bit frustrating not to have it, but not game-breaking in my opinion…

      • Aoshi00

        I actually only played the tutorial at the beach and then watched some cutscenes when the demo came out, which part does it cover up to? Now I’ve played about 5-6 missions and a boss fight, sometimes managing the camera, running around, changing weapons and items, and aiming the gun accurately just feels like requiring a lot of effort.. You can drag the unconscious people up the sky, but you can’t crawl or aim your gun behind a cover.. the auto-aim helps and works against you at the same time, in the heat of a gunfight like w/ a boss.. It’s like I want to play it to advance the story but don’t want to play it at the same time…Personally I would’ve preferred this to be at least on PS2 if not PS3.. just seems like a step back from the last game.. I know graphics is not the most important thing, but I have a feeling Rising might actually be more fun and play smoother than this as an action game. Also I miss the constant codec conversation.. it seems this game only has very little of it..

        I suppose it would get more fun when more options open (and w/ friends), but the control bugs me a lot for the time being.

    • malek86

      I used to some problems turning the camera with the d-pad in MH games, but I eventually got used to it. I guess it would be the same here?

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