Japan News, Japan Features - Page 20 of 23

The European boxart may be awesome, and the American boxart may be terrible, but what of the Japanese boxart for Quantic Dream's noir-thriller Heavy Rain? Well, it's got a nose on it

According to Famitsu (via PS3C) the newly announced Japanese Playstation 3 device "Tourne", a kind of DVR, will include trophy support

You'll earn trophies for simply watching television. For example, a trophy will be unlocked for watching the last episode in seven different TV series' and so on. You can see more about the "Tourne" through here.

We guess a Kingdom Hearts game just come out

Hence the Playstation Portable saying: hello Japanese hardware charts leadership. The handheld shifted 145k units, with the PS3 two places behind at 61k. Full figures after the jump. PSP – 145,682 Wii – 76,722 PS3 – 61,591 DSi – 50,178 DSi LL – 45,221 DS Lite – 10,067 Xbox 360 – 5,461 PS2 – 3.092 PSPgo – 2.841

SCEJ has announced a 250GB Playstation 3 SKU for release on February 18th in Japan

The SKU will retail at ¥34,980. The 250GB Playstation 3 is already available in Europe and America. That's all.

Want to see exploding buildings and angry Japanese people? Of course you do

Then you'll need to watch the latest Yakuza 4 trailer, a sub-five-minute epic of lovely PS3 visuals.

Sony of Japan announced today they are bringing a "Spring Blossom Pink" iteration of the PSP to their region in March

The new system (which is a PSP-3000) will cost just 16,800 ($183). It's kinda pretty isn't it? We'd play one anyway.

Surely confirming there'll be a Michael Jackson SingStar game at some point in the coming year, Sony of Japan has confirmed a Michael Jackson branded PS3 bundle, which includes a Slim and a copy of "This Is It," the MJ movie on blu-ray

It's due out for sale on the 27th January in Japan, for ¥33,500.

Nintendo may have taken the overall 2009 hardware sales crown in Japan, but there were strong performances from the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable in Sony's home region too

The PS3 managed to shift 1.7million systems in the region, just short of the Nintendo Wii's 2million; where the PSP managed to shift 2.3million systems for the year. Things were less rosy for Microsoft with just over..

With an opening week pushing over a million copies of Final Fantasy XIII, it's really no big deal that the game dropped to fourth on the Japanese sales charts this week

Still, with figures of around 200,000 copies shifted, we doubt Square Enix will be worrying too much, with Final Fantasy XIII seemingly meeting all its ridiculous expectations in the region. It'll be interesting to see how the..

According to retailer and reader votes in Japan's super-gaming Bible, Famitsu, the relaunch of the Playstation 3 in September was the biggest gaming story of 2009, with Final Fantasy XIII's release date and PSP Go's announcement all filling out spots in the top five

We can't disagree with the PS3 Slim's announcement; Sony's effective platform relaunch has propelled the Playstation into a much more..

Initiating even more rumours related to a "paid PSN" and different kind of digital distribution, Sony of Japan filed the name "Cloudsurf" on December 28th, for use on practically any Sony related gizmo; including "game machines

" The filing hints at "game services" and "entertainment" via the Internet. Games, audio, and video content aswell as "electronic..

Marketing, marketing, marketing

It's all about synergy. Final Fantasy XIII is a Playstation-related product (in Japan). Playstation is a Sony developed system. Sony also make the Bravia TV range. So what do you do? You get Final Fantasy XIII heroine Lightning to stand behind the latest Sony Bravia TV. Subconsciously anyone who picks up that Sony TV, will instantly find themselves compelled to buy..

Early rumours coming out of Famitsu's publisher Enterbrain (via the Examiner) suggest its been a bumper week in Japan for Sony and Square Enix

According to reports 1,516,532 copies of Final Fantasy XIII were sold in the game's first week on retail, with 245,406 Playstation 3 hardware systems shifted. And that figure is more than any of us imagined.

Playstation 3 sales were up nicely in Japan for the week ending December 13th, with PSP sitting just behind it

The Playstation 3 managed to shift 75,086 units for the week, with the PSP shifting 71,885. Things are looking grim for the PSPgo in the region though, with just 3,077 units sold in the region. What's going on? It's actually a good piece of hardware! It'll be interesting to see the effect..

Final Fantasy XIII is out (in Japan)

That means that practically everyone living in the country stopped what they were doing, cancelled work, and went and bought a copy. Well, maybe not everyone in the country - but at least 1million, as early indications suggest sales for the game were strong in its first 24 hours. The 1million figure does not factor in sales for the special bundled Playstation 3..

News of a minor milestone for Sony's Playstation 3 in Japan today, as figures compiled by Famitsu's publisher, Enterbrain, suggest the system has passed the 4million units mark, hitting a life-to-date total 4,020,563

They are great numbers for Sony, but it's humbling to see theWii reach the 9million mark on the same day. Let's see what difference Final Fantasy XIII makes.

Assuming you can't read Japanese, we're guessing you're itching for Final Fantasy XIII right now [if you can read Japanese, why aren't you importing the game? - Ed]

So we got your bases covered. Embedded are some videos of FFXIII from the mainstream Japanese media. It looks amazing by the way.

The Wii had a narrow victory on the Playstation 3 in Japan last week, selling just 115 consoles more

The PS3 was still showing its new found lease of life however, with a decent 46,558 consoles sold. The PSP was in good stead also, with 38,839 units sold. Sadly, the PSPgo dawdled at the bottom of the charts with less than 4,000 units this week, however, it's worth noting that the introduction of..

If you happen upon Tokyo's Akihabara store over the next few weeks, prepare to be hit by a whole mass of Final Fantasy XIII content

The game's due to launch exclusively in the Japanese region on Playstation 3 in a few weeks. Sony domination ahoy.