White Knight Chronicles Tops Japan Charts

Japan has been waiting for another classic PlayStation 3 RPG for quite some time. Final Fantasy XIII can't come soon enough, but Level-5's White Knight Chronicles release is very much appreciated.

Released on December 25th, the PlayStation 3 exclusive RPG didn't gain ecstatic reviews from Famitsu magazine, but it did achieve ecstatic sales. Selling 203,000 copies in four days, the game could also be responsible for a PlayStation 3 hardware boost to 48,000 units.

The sales put White Knight Chronicles third on the top three PlayStation 3 opening weeks, with Metal Gear Solid 4 (476,000 copies) and Devil May Cry 4 (212,000 copies) leading the march. In fact, as you can see, White Knight Chronicles sports the best debut numbers for a new IP on Sony's console.

Quite impressive for a small install base, since Level-5's 2005 PlayStation 2 release Rogue Galaxy didn't sell much more in its debut week at 213,000.

In comparison, other new releases for the week, such as Far Cry 2, Alone in the Dark and Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution all sold under 10,000 copies on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. BioShock's PlayStation 3 debut only managed to sell 1,500 copies.

Square Enix's RPG, The Last Remnant, also saw a sales boost for the Xbox 360, so it's clear what needs to be done to corner the Japanese market.

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SOFTWARE

1. [PS3] White Knight Chronicles (SCE) - 203,000

2. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) - 168,000

3. [NDS] Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) - 159,000

4. [PSP] Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix) - 157,000

5. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo) - 120,000

6. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon) - 94,000

7. [NDS] Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo) - 93,000

8. [NDS] Phantasy Star Zero (Sega) - 86,000

9. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 80,000

10. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 74,000

HARDWARE

DSi - 218,000

PSP - 120,000

Wii - 162,000

DS Lite - 58,000

PlayStation 3 - 48,000

PlayStation 2 - 13,000

Xbox 360 - 13,000

Source: Famitsu