GTA IV, LBP boost Japanese PS3 sales

Grand Theft Auto IV has thundered to the top of the Japanese chart this week, selling more than double the number of copies of LittleBigPlanet - which makes its chart debut at three.

Not that Sony will mind too much, as the PS3 version of GTA IV proved the most popular with 133,000 sales - nearly 100,000 more than on Xbox 360, according to Media Create data on NeoGAF.

Both GTA IV and LittleBigPlanet also helped boost PS3 hardware sales, which rocketed up to 39,587, making the Sony machine the best selling console in Japan this week.

This resulted in games such as SOCOM PS3 and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue getting a look-in at 18 and 30, respectively.

However, the launch of the DSi dwarfed all challengers, with an enormous 188,294 units sold. Unsurprisingly, then, six of the top 10 software places were occupied by DS games.

These included new entries Valkyrie Profile at two, Personal Trainer: Walking (with pedometer) at eight, and some Chocobo Dungeon game at nine.

Meanwhile, the Wii had a disappointing week, slipping to a hardware low of 23,123 units sold, and - for the first time we can remember - counting no platform-specific titles in the top 10. Wii Music continued to underperform and slipped to 11.

Japanese software sales:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 133,000
2. Valkyrie Profile: Toga o Seoumono (DS) - 80,000
3. LittleBigPlanet (PS3) - 52,000
4. Pokémon Platinum (DS) - 47,000 (lifetime: 1,853,400)
5. Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (DS) - 40,000 (lifetime: 117,000)
6. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) - 39,000 (lifetime: 1,089,000)
7. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 34,000
8. Personal Trainer: Walking (DS) - 26,000
9. Cid to Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon: Toki Wasure no Meikyuu + (DS) - 26,000
10. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (PSP) - 26,000

Japanese hardware sales:

1. DS: 188,294
2. PSP: 50,358
3. PS3: 39,587
4. Wii: 23,123
5. PS2: 6714
6. Xbox 360: 6119