Japan and Their Top 50 Favorite 360 Games

Although the Xbox 360 is faring better than most other U.S. based consoles in Japan, when your other competition is, um, the original Xbox and the 3DO, that’s not really saying much… Regardless, it’s interesting to see that, while the 360 seems to be doing a bit better than its predecessor in the Land of the Rising Sun (with such titles that would appeal to the average Japanese consumer like the RPG Blue Dragon) it’s still not quite selling like hot cakes. Is it a Western bias or is it a lack of software that appeals to the Japanese market? Whatever it is, here is a list of the top 50 best selling Xbox 360 games in Japan, complete with the number of copies sold for each title.

1. Blue Dragon - 203,740
02. Dead or Alive 4 - 108,618
03. Ace Combat 6 - 83,045
04. Halo 3 - 82,987
05. Ridge Racer 6 - 73,501
06. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 72,274
07. Trusty Bell - 70,244
08. Gears of War - 68,270
09. Dead Rising - 68,078
10. Lost Planet - 61,555
11. DEAD OR ALIVE Xtreme 2 60544
12. Lost Odyssey - 60,376
13. Idolm@ster - 48,695
14. Dynasty Warriors 6 - 44,292
15. Assasin's Creed - 41,436
16. Ninetynine Nights - 38,019
17. Forza Motorsports - 2 31,255
18. Rumble Roses XX - 29,187
19. Crackdown - 28,588
20. Culdcept Saga - 27,960
21. Earth Defense Force 3 - 27,087
22. Perfect Dark Zero - 26,085
23. Test Drive Unlimited - 25,788
24. PGR3 - 25,058
25. Beautiful Katamari - 24,186
26. World Soccer Winning Eleven X - 21,904
27. Armored Core 4 - 21,096
28. Dead Rising (Xbox 360 Platinum Collection) - 20,325 (total sales 88,313)
29. [eM] eNCHANT arM - 20,233
30. Saint's Row - 18,593
31. Rainbow Six Vegas - 18,592
32. Oneechanbara vorteX - 18,443
33. Need for Speed Most Wanted - 17,973
34. Bulletwitch - 16,241
35. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - 15,994
36. PlayOnline/Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 - 15,754
37. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 - 15,090
38. Idolm@ster (Xbox 360 Platinum Collection) - 14,864 (total sales 63,559)
39. Earth Defense Force 3 (Xbox 360 Platinum Collection) - 14,707 (total sales 41,794)
40. Final Fantasy XI Wings of the Goddess Expansion - 14,412
41. Call of Duty 3 - 14,194
42. Virtua Fighter 5 Live Arena - 13,169
43. Chrome Hounds - 13,110
44. Tenchu Z - 12,974
45. Project Sylpheed - 12,283
46. PGR 4 - 12,237
47. Viva Pinata - 12,184
48. Godfather - 11,670
49. Dynasty Warriors 5 Special - 10,957
50. Bulletwitch (Xbox360 Platinum Collection) - 10,857

Source

Club Nintendo: What Everyone Outside of Japan is Missing

Here in the U.S. if you purchase a brand-new title by Nintendo, there will be a code in the box on the back of the game manual to register your game on Nintendo’s website. What do you get for joining Club Nintendo and registering games in the U.S., basically showing your loyalty to the big N? Possibly some free games? Nope. Neat little items based on Nintendo games? Uh-uh. So what do you get? Basically…. nothing worth noting (except for Nintendo now having knowledge of your home address and e-mail).

In Nintendo’s home land of Japan, however, you get all types of nifty items that will appeal to any hardcore Nintendo fan. For showing your support for Nintendo in the Land of the Rising Sun, you’d receive awesome Nintendo merchandise, custom collectibles, and, occasionally, even games. Some of the items in the past year given away to Japanese Club Nintendo members were Animal Crossing tape, cool notebooks featuring popular Nintendo characters, collectible cards, a holder for DS games and stylus, Mario-themed washcloths, dog tags, and Game & Watch Collection, a highly sought-after DS title that compiles three classic Game & Watch games onto one cart.

More recently, however, Nintendo is offering the choice of one of two items to chose from: a customized Wii remote featuring your very own Mii character permanently printed on it or another sure-to-be sought after eBay collectible: Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS. Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS is a bizarre DS update of the Nintendo classic balloon fight except it now stars that wacky tingle from Zelda: the Wind

Waker.

Hey, Nintendo… The U.S. (and the rest of the world, for that matter) buys Nintendo products just like Japan does. How ‘bout giving us loyal Nintendo fans around the world some exclusive goodies as well?