Chart Get!: MC 2009-04-13 and Famitsu 2009-04-06: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 227 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 180.1 weeks (Augut 11, 2003), where DS was at 99.7 weeks (October 27, 2006), and where GBA was at 153.4 weeks (February 25, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 175 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.6 weeks (January 3, 2002), where PS3 was at 36.4 weeks (July 18, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.2 weeks (January 1, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 127 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 42.7 weeks (December 22, 2000), where PSP was at 64.4 weeks (March 1, 2006), where GCN was at 120.5 weeks (December 31, 2003), and where Wii was at 33.3 weeks (July 17, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 124 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 95.1 weeks (January 11, 2003), where DS was at 76.4 weeks (May 17, 2006), where PS2 was at 114.1 weeks (May 6, 2002), and where PSP was at 165.0 weeks (February 3, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 24 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 44.5 weeks (December 18, 2003) and where DSL was at 14.2 weeks (June 5, 2006).

It's worth noting that unlike last week's Media Create numbers, Famitsu has Wii beating PS3: 15,540 to 13,509.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 52.7 / 47.3 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 353.4 weeks (January 27, 2016).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 12.2 / 87.8 bring total shares to 24.6 / 75.4. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 239.2 weeks (November 19, 2013).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 82.5 / 17.5 bring total shares to 28.0 / 72.0. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii eight weeks in a row, andthe first time it more than quadrupled Wii. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 98.2 weeks (March 8, 2011). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 77.4 weeks (October 13, 2010).

Week over week, PS3 explodes thanks to the FF VII / XIII stuff, but everything else is pretty flat.

By Media Create's reckoning, Xbox 360 hits 1 million units sold in its 176th week.

Through the first fifteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.7%
DSL+DSi: -2.9%
PS2: -52.8%
PS3: +19.9%
PSP: -40.1%
X360: +237.5%

Home hardware: -36.8%
Portable hardware: -23.3%
Sum of all hardware: -28.9%

Famitsu Software Stuff

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) remains high. For the second week in a row its sales have gone down while its rank has gone up, thanks to lackluster sales of everything else.

Chart perennials Wii Fit and Monster Hunter Portable 2 G both continue to do well, but lately MHP2G has been doing a bit better. It's become a bit of a question as to whether it will eventually pass it up (again) before further games in either series steal attention away. Thanks to my new ability to show lines of not only individual games but also groups now, we can set up an image that shows how MHP2G and its Best rerelease are closing in on Wii Fit.

Looking at this image now, it's apparent that the currently weekly sales of MHP2G are better than what it was doing just a few months after launch--I guess the lower price is doing good things for it.

Our latest Famitsu number for Dragon Quest Swords (486,222) comes from the end of 2007, so in reality it should be a bit ahead when we get the 2008 Top 500. However, Taiko no Tatsujin Wii has apparently passed it (at 492,585) to become the top third party game on the Wii. Since it continues selling thousands of copies each week, it will legitimately be ahead any time now.

This also makes it the #2 console third party game of this generation, behind Metal Gear Solid 4.

Apparently thanks to an anime series based on the game, the budget rerelease of Valkyria Chronicles makes its first appearance on the Top 30, a month after its release. Since Famitsu tells what the previous two ranks were for each game on the list, we know that two weeks ago it was sitting at #74.