Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami is to open a new development studio in Tokyo later this year once he finishes his work on Platinum Games shooter Vanquish.

read more

Sony’s PSP increased its lead at the top of the Japanese hardware chart during the week ended March 7, boosted by the release of a “blossom pink” model.

Sales rose by almost 30,000 units week-on-week to nearly double those of the system’s closest competitor, Nintendo’s Wii.

Individual rankings were unchanged from the previous week, with PS3 placing third, followed by DSi LL, DSi and DS Lite.

read more

Four new titles placed in the top ten on the Japanese software chart during the week ended March 7.

Pokemon Ranger: Tracks Of Light for DS took the top spot, while .hack//Link for PSP and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies for DS took second and third respectively.

The week’s other new top ten entry was Nobunaga’s Ambition: Tendou for PS3 at number seven.

read more

Spike’s PSP action game Kenka Bancho 4: Ichinen Sensou debuted atop the Japanese software chart during the week ended February 28.

Four new games cracked the top ten in total as Namco Bandai’s Super Robot Taisen OG: Saga Endless Frontier Exceed placed second, Sony’s Hot Shots Tennis Portable for PSP sixth, and Spike’s Shiren The Wanderer 4: Kami No Hitomi To Akuma No Heso seventh.

read more

PSP retained its lead on the Japanese hardware chart on an individual system basis during the week ended February 28, but Nintendo’s DS line once again came out on top in terms of combined sales.

Wii was the bestselling home console as weekly PS3 sales declined, while DSi LL proved by far the most popular DS model.

Xbox 360 remained ahead of PS2, while PSPgo was again rooted to the bottom of the pile.

Weekly hardware sales (previous week):

PSP – 37,338 (32,796)
Wii – 36,241 (31,652)
PS3 – 27,763 (32,130)

read more

Former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki has revealed that he’s now working as development and game design head at new Japanese outfit Valhalla Game Studios.

The independent studio is being run by Satoshi Kanematsu, a former Tecmo colleague of Itagaki’s.

read more

Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has released Japanese lifetime sales data for each of the current generation home consoles.

As of February 28, Japanese Wii sales stood at 10,009,736 units. It took the console 170 weeks to clear the sales milestone, 39 weeks longer than it took Sony’s PS2.

Japanese PS3 sales were 4,766,408 units as of the end of February, while Xbox 360 had sold 1,235,049 units, according to the company (via Kotaku).

read more

Organizer CESA has detailed the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, which will take place from September 16-19 at the Makuhari Messe convention centre in Chiba, Japan.

The theme for this year’s show won’t be announced unti May, but it will span two press and business days followed by two public days, with CESA targeting 180 exhibitors and 180,000 visitors, reports Andriasang.

read more

The PS3 version of Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition topped the Japanese software chart during the week ended February 21.

Featuring Resident Evil 5 and the game’s subsequently released DLC packs, the title sold 143,000 copies to head the rankings.

Having topped the chart for the previous two weeks, God Eater fell one spot to second, ahead of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

read more

Sony and Nintendo platforms dominated hardware sales in Japan during the week ended February 21.

PSP claimed first place on an individual system basis, but Nintendo’s DS line came out on top in terms of combined sales.

Sales of all platforms bar PS3 and PS2 declined week-on-week, with Sony’s latest home console jumping narrowly ahead of Wii in the rankings, according to data from Media Create.

Weekly hardware sales (previous week):

PSP – 32,796 (39,293)

read more