Japan News, Japan Features - Page 21 of 23

Sony's grip on the Japanese market continues to stregthen as the company once again account for more than half of Japanese video game sales in their home region

During the week ending November 15th, the Playstation 3 and PSP each tallied over 38,000 units, with the PSPgo dropping to just 6,000. PSP – 38,770 PS3 – 38,498 DSi – 33,749 Wii – 26,764 PSP go – 6,427 DS Lite – 5,036 Xbox 360 –..

Sony have dated the Playstation Portable comics service to those people in Japan

A firmware update will be available on November 19th, upgrading the PSP to 6.20 a few weeks ahead of the service's launch on December 10th. For the Japanese store, individual comics will cost between ¥50-150 (USD$0.55-$1.70), while collections will run for the uniform price of ¥420 (USD$4.70). Sony say the Western..

When the PS3 Slim launched, many expected the Playstation 3 to lead the charts for a couple of weeks and then drop away

But Sony's HD system has held onto its place at the top of the Japanese charts, even managing to beat out Nintendo's DSi this week. Combined sales of the PSP and PSPgo also managed to beat out Nintendo's handheld system for the week. PlayStation 3 – 48,925 DSi – 37,421 PSP –..

It's been revealed via scans from Shonen Jump magazine that Japanese copies of Final Fantasy XIII will include beta entry to Final Fantasy XIV- the online MMO from Square Enix

We're assuming the beta will be for PC, even though the game is due on Playstation 3 aswell. Still, it's a nice little extra incentive (as if any was needed) for the Japanese to pick up a copy of Final Fantasy XIII when it..

It may have only been on store shelves for one day, put the PSPgo still managed to shift 29,109 units on its Japanese launch

Couple that with solid figures for the existing PSP (34,911) and continued strength of the Playstation 3 platform (36,061) and you have some real solid numbers for Sony in Japan this week. Nintendo's DSi continued to head the charts, but the Playstation 3 was just inches..

If you're Japanese and you don't have a PSP yet (unusual), you might be interested to know that there are ton of awesome new colours heading to the Portable range, the full catalogue of which you can see over at Kotaku

They're out in December and will cost ¥19,800 (US$219.50).

Chalk this down to a phenomenal turn-around in fortunes for SCE worldwide, or a drop in demand for Nintendo's wildly popular Wii system -- Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata reckons that in their current climates the Wii and Playstation 3 are "neck and neck" in Japan

“A notable dip can be seen in sales of Wii this year; which is approximately half the size of last year. On the other hand, Sony’s..

If you think about all the big Playstation 3 games since launch, chances are they came from a Western developer

Aside from the odd title here or there - Siren: Blood Curse, Trash Panic, Eye Of Judgement - a lot of Sony's Studio Japan output has been on PSP over the past few years. Sony Worldwide Studios honcho Shuhei Yoshida is fully aware of this, explaining "their focus was shifted onto the..

The PSPgo has finally launched in Japan, and has managed to shift a respectable 28,275 units according to Andriasang

com</a>. The unit was supported by a ton of Playstation Network releases including Persona 3, Dissidia Final Fantasy and LocoRoco Midnight Carnival. Domestic lifetime sales for the PSP pre-Go stand at <span>12,797,180. It'll be a pleasing first day for Sony regarding the..

The Playstation 3 version of Bayonetta has conquered the XBOX 360 version despite numerous claims the Sony version is not up to scratch

Japanese publication Famitsu scored the XBOX 360 version of Bayonetta a whole 2 points more (earning it a perfect score) due to performance issues which are somewhat questionable. That hasn't stopped the Playstation 3 version outselling its adversary by over 2:1..

After the initial monster sales of the PS3 Slim in Japan, we always assumed weekly sales would settle down around the 30k mark - 20k higher than pre-Slim's average weekly figures

That's something that's happened for Sony, with figures of 29,997 this week. Many expected the Wii to overtake the PS3 after its pricedrop, but that hasn't happened, with in fact the Wii falling some 4,000 units behind..

If you're living under a rock Japan, prepare to flip out

There's a new Monster Hunter game coming to PSP. Announced at a competition (!) in Tokyo, the game is a spin-off featuring the Toro mascots. The game is entitled "Monhan Nikki Poka Poka Airu Mura", or "Monster Hunter Diary Poka Poka Airu Village". There are no real details as of yet. Expect to see figures of..

Don't you just love Japanese adverts? "Non-stop climax action - BAYONETTA

" We love that little Playstation 3 ident thing at the end aswell. Brilliant. It's going to be interesting how the spread of sales for Bayonetta actually turn out — with the XBOX 360 version scoring a 40/40, two marks more than the Playstation 3 version due to performance issues. Surely, the Japanese contingent won't..

The Playstation 3 is starting to look steady with a reasonable 30,000 units a week figure in Japan

The system has been heavily boosted since its price drop around the world, and Sony will hope that things continue to stay that way until the expected super boost from the launch of Final Fantasy XIII in December. The Wii and PS3 continue to get tighter, but the PS3 managed to succeed once again this..

Sony really are very lucky to have one of the biggest innovators in video games working exclusively for their platform

The man behind Shadow Of The Colossus and Ico, Fumito Ueda, is currently working on The Last Guardian. And speaking to Famitsu, Ueda has confirmed his ideal that "this generation is about expressing ideas".“As a creator, technical skill is important, but I really feel..

Since the PS3 Slim released the PS3 has seen a steady sales boost that's now starting to level out

The Wii also recently saw its price cut in recent weeks. The result is a heated contest for supremacy in which the Playstation 3 managed to win this week by just 155 units. We're sure things are only going to get closer next week. The sales figures for console hardware for the week October 5 to 11..

Considering we didn't expect Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to sell well at all in Japan - it's a very Western focused game - we're surprised to see Japanese reports of the game selling around 47,000 copies in its first day

We suppose if we were to extrapolate, we'd imagine around 55,000 sales before the week is out, if not more. Hopefully Naughty Dog are well on target for their 2.5million sell..

Playstation Portable sales are up in Japan after Sony announced they would slash the PSP-3000's price by 15%

The system, which was also bolstered by the launch of Gran Turismo PSP, saw sales of around 49,000 during the previous week ending Sunday. According to Reuters, Sony's stock rose by 2.9% due to the price cut.

So Persona fans, you probably think it's about time you rejoiced in a Persona 5 announcement

Well, we bring not news of the games announcement, but details that Atlus are currently hiring Playstation 3 (and XBOX 360) programmers. With so many rumours flying around about Persona 5, you have to imagine the game exists in some form somewhere. Chances are it'll be on Playstation 3, especially if..