This Week In Japanese News: From Vita Caravan Tour To Disgaea 4

[Gamasutra rounds up recent reports on the Japanese games industry from local news site Andriasang.com, a leading destination for English-language news on Japan's game industry.] In our latest round-up of Japanese game industry news not previously reported on Gamasutra, we look at Disgaea 4 boosting Nippon Ichi's sales, Mobage operator DeNA buying a Nippon Professional Baseball team, and Sony's PS Vita Caravan: National Demo Tour launching soon. Nippon Ichi Beats Expectations on Strong Disgaea Sales Developer and publisher Nippon Ichi Software reported higher than expected numbers for the first half of its fiscal year (ending September 30), with sales of ¥1.2 billion ($15.2 million) and net earnings of ¥122 million ($1.6 million). It previously predicted a ¥10 million net loss ($128,000) for the period. The company attributed the profits to strong sales for PS3's Disgaea 4 in North America, particularly for downloadable content. It also called attention to royalties from licensing its characters, such as the Nippon Ichi-chan cameo in Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 (published by Compile Heart in Japan and NIS America in the States). Nippon Ichi saw strong sales from Broccoli-published Japan-only PSP game Uta no Prince-sama Repeat, and other businesses like like amusement facility management. The publisher kept its full-year forecast for sales at ¥2.3 billion ($23.3 million) and for net earnings at ¥59 million ($756,000). DeNA Buys Japanese Baseball Team DeNA isn't just acquiring game developers and mobile social network operators left and right -- it has purchased the Yokohoma BayStars baseball team in Japan from TBS Holdings. The deal is pending approval by the Nippon Professional Baseball association, which convenes on December 1. The Mobage operator announced its intentions to buy the BayStars in October, but the acquisition was delayed over a dispute with the team's name. DeNA hoped to use Mobage in the team's name, but the league frowns upon naming teams after products, so the firm has decided against the idea. It does, however, plan to change the team's blue-and-white colors. The BayStars' current manage, Takao Obana, will also be leaving two years into his three-year contract with the team. PlayStation Vita Caravan Tour Starts November 19 Ahead of PS Vita's Japanese launch on December 17 (Western launch scheduled for February 22, 2012), Sony is kicking off a "PlayStation Vita Play Caravan: National Demo Tour" on November 19, visiting various locations in major five cities: Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, and Gukuoka. At the demo events, which will run until December 18, attendees will have an opportunity to play PS Vita titles for free like Uncharted, Ridge Racer, Hot Shots Golf 6, Touch My Katamari, Disgaea 3 Return, LittleBigPlanet Vita, WipEout 2048, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Gravity Daze, and many others. [This story was written with permission using material from Andriasang.com, a leading destination for English-language news on Japan's game industry.]