After a strong showing in Japan at launch, the PlayStation Vita has entered it's second straight week of sharp decline, selling below both the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PSP. The system sold an impressive 324,859 in its launch week, but tumbled down to 72,479 in its second week and 42,648 this week, according to the latest MediaCreate numbers.
Read more: Vita games not charting, Sony credits downloadables ยป
The long-awaited charity album released under the Play for Japan banner arrived on iTunes over the weekend, offering 18 tracks from some of the industry's best with all proceeds going to benefit the people of Japan.
Organized by one of the album's featured artists, renowned composer Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill, Shadows of the Damned), Play for Japan: The Album also features music from Koji Kondo (Mario, Legend of Zelda), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Bear McCreary (SOCOM 4, Battlestar), and more.
"I'm so proud to share this with videogame and music fans, thanks to the hard work of friends and fellow composers from around the world," Yamaoka said in a press release. "With so many diverse artists and styles featured, this truly is a global effort towards a worthwhile cause."
On the official Team Fortress 2 blog, the team behind the ubercharged shooter have revealed that sales for special in-game items developed for the Japanese disaster relief have topped $300,000.
"Wow. Seriously, people, WOW. We knew you had it in you, but we're still amazed you've raised over $300,000 so far," the post reads. Three items are available for Team Fortress 2 players looking to score exclusive items while donating to a good cause: Humanitarian's Hachimaki" for $7.99, the "Benefactor's Kanmuri" for $19.99, and the "Magnanimous Monarch" for $99.99. All proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross. Read more »
A promotional site for Fallout: New Vegas in Japan has taken the modern role-playing title into a classic and given us a taste of what the adventure would look like in a classic, 8-bit style [via Bethesda's Official Blog].
Used as a promotional tool for the series in Japan, the Fallout "Demake" website focuses on explaining the gameplay style of "Freestyle RPG" titles. The "Fallout Quest" mini-flash game gives players a taste of what it means to get "into the world of Fallout" and pushes Japanese gamers to try the Fallout series for a different kind of role-playing adventure. Read more »
If you thought 1,000 vehicles were enough for the team at Polyphony Digital to call it a day, think again. According to Japanese gaming site 4Gamer.net, Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan is giving Gran Turismo 5 players in the Far East a chance to download three new vehicles, free for a limited time. Read more »
In case you didn't know, everyone's favorite Princess-saving plumber is celebrating his 25th Anniversary this year. For gamers in Japan, Nintendo is offering a special bundle of Mario's classic adventures for the Nintendo Wii.
Revealed today, the Super Mario Collection Special Pack is a port of the SNES release Super Mario All-Stars, which includes Super Mario Bros., Japan's Super Mario sequel (The Lost Levels), Super Mario Bros. 3, and America's Super Mario Bros. 2 [via ExtraGuy]. Read more »
Last week, the Xbox 360 saw an 800% increase in hardware sales in Japan; however, this week Microsoft's home console have seen a substantial drop in sales, according to data released by Media Create (Translated). For the period of June 21 to 27, the Xbox 360 sold 17,370 units in the Land of the Rising Sun versus 7,303 units for the period of June 28 to July 4. Also plummeting from the sales charts was Capcom's Monster Hunter Frontier Online, which fell from its first place spot the week ending June 27 to fourteenth this week. Read more »
The Xbox 360 is enjoying a sudden boost in hardware sales in Japan, thanks, in large part, to the recent release of Monster Hunter Frontier Online, Eurogamer reports. Sales figures in the region for the week ending June 27 feature a significant increase for Microsoft's system; up 17,370 units from 2,060 the previous week.
Sudden hardware sale spikes are not uncommon for the Xbox 360 in Japan, as the console sees slight boosts whenever exclusive titles geared at the Japanese market are released. Similar boosts occurred following the the release of titles such as Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery Read more »
Andriasang (via Joystiq) reports that Japanese video game company Namco Bandai is working with textbook publishing company Gakko Tosho to bring RPG elements and narrative story to school books.
Math textbooks are among the initial plan, with each volume containing "a problem corner titled 'Math Adventure.' Students follow an RPG-like storyline as they solve problems. Get the correct answer, and you earn keys. Collect all the keys, and you earn a treasure of some form. This 'game' has clearly defined characters -- for example, Yuto, who was born on July 25, is full of energy but is bad at math." Read more »
1up reports that Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has set a release date for White Knight Chronicles 2, a sequel to Level 5's original RPG (pictured left). The PlayStation 3 exclusive game, originally announced at Tokyo Game Show 2009, will be available in Japan on July 8.
The sequel will allow players to import his or her avatar from White Knight Chronicles, provided they have finished the first game's story mode. Read more »
A report in Japan's Nikkei financial newspaper (reposted via NeoGaf) reveals that Nintendo plans to release a new iteration of the DSi with a whopping 4" in screen real-estate. That would make the new model's screen three-quarters of an inch larger than the current model. The story puts the release date for the updated DSi as later this year, with the price to remain at the same 18900 Yen as the one currently on store shelves. Whether it will see release outside of Japan remains under consideration.
The story attributes Nintendo's impetus to increase the screen size on substantial feedback from users. It also notes that the larger screen is meant to cater to older users who have expressed difficulty when gaming on the smaller screens. Read more »
Japanese developers need to be more creative if they hope to once "again lead the gaming market," according to PlatinumGames boss Atushi Inaba.
Employing numerous ex-Capcom staffers, including Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, PlatinumGames largely consists of former employees from Clover Studio--creators of the widely acclaimed Viewtiful Joe, God Hand, and Okami. Read more »
"Oh yeah, buy a handheld system which has a shit library because no one bought it at a price ..."
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