This is PlayStation JapanStyle

Welcome to a monthly look at what’s happening with the PlayStation brand in its home country. This is PlayStation JapanStyle.

Read on, and let us know what you think below. よろしく.

~Game Releases~

This won’t cover every game released in Japan this month, rather those that stand out for their hype or for their Japanese-ness.

Freshly announced for North American release, Tales of Xillia for PS3 is already on the Greatest Hits line in Japan, which we call “PS3 The Best” over here.  It’s joined by No More Heroes: Red Zone Edition, which is basically the North American version of the game. Not on the official list but making EA’s own offshoot line of re-releases is Battlefield Bad Company 2. EA calls its own best-sellers the “EA Perfect Best” line; a lot of game companies have their own names for re-releases here. EA actually has two of them, as Shadows of the Damned will appear on EA Best Hits at the end of the month. If you’re confused by this, don’t be. One of them is clearly for the best hits and the other is obviously for the best which are also perfect. Duh.

While some shooters get their second go at retail, two others make their debuts with Heavy Fire: Afghanistan and Sniper Elite V2.

PS3 rounds out August by getting Hyperdimension Neptuina V and Dirt Showdown on the 30th.

Vita’s month is, like most months up to this point, less than spectacular. The big feature will be on the 30th, when the Hatsune Miku: Project f + white Vita bundle is released. Like Tales of Innocence, Gravity Daze, and Persona 4 before it, however, I fear that this will only give Vita system sales a mere moment above water. I of course hope that my fears are not prophesies.

Before Miku makes its big show, however, Sony’s second handheld will also get a mystery/adventure game called 特殊報道部 (Tokushuu Houdoubu), which can mean “Special Investigation Division” or “Special Reporting Division,” by Nippon Ichi Software on the 23rd. In it, players control characters including broadcaster Chika Murase, known throughout the land because of her outstanding…qualifications.

Other than the above, Vita has been the recipient of Orgarhythm, a small number of visual novels, and a Japanese chess game in August.

Believe it or not, the PSP is still very alive and successful in Japan, with both its hardware and software usually outselling its younger brother the Vita. While new PSP games are released in North America on like a semi-annual schedule these days, Japan is still cranking them out. It won’t leave August with any new heavy-hitters, but it will be getting a new Gundam game, a new Elminage, and a “PSP The Best” version of Grand Knights History, among several other small-to-mid-sized releases.

~Sales~

Here are the 20 best-selling games in Japan for the week ending August 12th.

1. (3DS) New Super Mario Bros. 2

2. (WII) Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online

3. (NDS) Pokemon Black 2/White 2

4. (PSP) Kuroko no Basuke: Kiseke no Shiai

5. (3DS) Run for Money Tousouchuu: Flee From the Strongest Hunters in History!

6. (WII) Just Dance Wii 2

7. (3DS) Brain Training 3D

8. (PS3) Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena

9. (WII) Kirby: 20th Anniversary Special Collection

10. (3DS) Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb

11. (WII) Wii Sports Resort

12. (3DS) Kobitodzukan: Kobito Kansatsu Set

13. (PS3) Sniper Elite V2

14. (PSP) Digimon World Re: Digitize

15. (3DS) Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry no Wonderland 3D

16. (WII) Mario Party 9

17.(3DS) Rune Factory 4

18. (NDS) All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation 2

19. (PSP) Super Dangan-ronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubou Gakuen

20. (PS3) Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2012

Hardware sales looked like this:

3DS – 102,646

Wii – 16,145

PS3 – 14,580

PSP – 12,018

PSV – 9,446

PS2 – 1,187

360 – 998

DS – 952

~Impressions~

I’ve been playing the PS3 version of Ni no Kuni lately and I really like what I see. This game is a lot of what stateside fans have been starved for. Forgive me for being brief here, but I’ll have more on this next time. It starts out heavy on story and very light on challenge, but so far it’s done an excellent job of gradually expanding. I’m having more fun with this than I have with most RPGs of the generation so far. I listened to some shitty podcast about it where the guys were kind of bagging on it, but the point where they described being “10 hours in,” was well behind me in less than five hours. People are idiots. Let that be a lesson, guys. Never ever listen to anyone’s opinion on the internet. They’re all wrong.

~Nonsense~

This week in Japan was Obon, a string of national holidays. That means in next week’s sales charts (which someone will post in a regular news story, I reckon) will probably have some things jumping up. We’re going on a 6-hour train ride to grandma’s house, so what do we do? Buy the kids a portable game and pray it keeps their mouths shut for at least half the ride, right?

Udon is the specialty food around here, and Kagawa’s part in the Shikoku Festa shows it. A circle of smiling old ladies gathers in a circle every year as they march and do the “Sanuki Udon Dance.” It’s cute, but the song drags a little bit, especially when you can hear someone pressing a button on a CD player somewhere to skip back to the beginning of the track.

Another part of the festivities that looked promising was Tony’s Burger Stand. I went up to order one, and he was like, right over there, dude, and pointed to a table beneath the tent on the right side of the picture. There was a tray of burgers sitting idly; they’d been there a while. I was like “…Those?  Just, you want me to take one of those?  You’re not gonna cook one?” This cat was like “Naw, we’ve got a bunch that have just been sitting there.” When I thought about it, I hadn’t seen them add new burgers to that pile in a long time and had no way of knowing how long they’d been sitting around in the hot, humid Shikoku summer. No thanks, Tony. I like the idea of a burger, but I don’t like the idea of rockstar throwing up all over the festival.

~Seeya next month~

じゃね~