RE5 Japan's first day sales - PS3 4:1 360

First day sales of Resident Evil 5 are in from Japan. The game sold four times as much on the PlayStation 3.

According to Ameblo.jp, Resident Evil 5 sold 278,000 on its first day in Japan. There's a very good chance the game could beat Yakuza 3's first week sales - the game sold 232,000 on its first day.

The split is significant, the PlayStation 3 sold 222,000 copies, with the Xbox 360 behind at 56,000.

We knew that Famitsu's reports might have been a bit too good to be true, when some retailers experienced equal sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.

The Xbox 360 has managed to better the proportion of sales it achieved with Devil May Cry 4, where first day sales were at 140,000 for the PlayStation 3 and only 30,000 for the Xbox 360.

What's more incredible is that Resident Evil 5 has beaten launch day sales of Resident Evil 4. The game sold 117,000 copies for the Gamecube in January 2005 and 145,000 copies for the PlayStation 2 in December 2005. Resident Evil 5 has surpassed that combined number.

Not only has the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined sales managed to best both, the PlayStation 3 managed the feat all by itself.

Here's another tasty statistic. The Xbox 360 version of Resident Evil 5 outsold the Nintendo release of Resident Evil 4 (27,000) and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles (53,000). Oh yes, the Xbox 360 isn't doing that bad at all in Japan.

We eagerly await the full week sales.