PSP Sells 10+ Million In Japan

Sony has sold over 10 million PlayStation Portables in Japan since the handheld launched in the country in December 2004, according to an Enterbrain report described by newspaper The Economic Times. Enterbrain, a Japanese game industry research unit, confirms Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s (SCEI) previous announcement that its year-to-date PSP sales in Japan reached 10 million units, as of July 15th, 2008. Sony's portable has seen two major hardware redesigns, including the PSP Slim and Lite, which is characterized by a lighter and slimmer design, and the recently announced PSP-3000 series, which features an improved LCD screen, a built-in microphone, and expanded video-out. According to a Famitsu posting translated by game weblog Kotaku, Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable series (known as Monster Hunter Freedom in the States) accounts for three of the top-selling software titles in Japan, with the games selling a combined total of some 4.65 million copies. The top-selling PSP titles in Japan are as follows. 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom) - March 27, 2008 - 2,396,642 copies sold 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom) - February 22, 2007 - 1,706,387 copies sold 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix) - September 13, 2007 - 790,705 copies sold 4. Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom) - December 1, 2005 - 668,964 copies sold 5. Phantasy Star Portable (Sega) - July 31, 2008 - 545,242 copies sold Though the PSP has dominated hardware sales in Japan in 2008, the system lags behind Nintendo DS sales, which moved 23 million units since it launched in December 2004, the same month as the PSP.