Monster Hunter Holds Off Ni No Kuni's Premiere In Japanese Charts

Monster Hunter Freedom 3 topped Japanese software sales for the second straight week, outpacing strong initial sales for the highly anticipated Ni No Kuni, which finished second for the week. For the week ended December 12, Capcom's PSP adventure sold nearly 630,000 units, while Level-5's anime-inspired role-playing game sold just over 170,000 units. Ni No Kuni barely edged out the Japanese premiere of Donkey Kong Country Returns, which sold over 160,000 units to place third in the weekly rankings. Other notable Japanese premieres on Media Create's weekly sales list include Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, which attracted 36,000 sales to finish the week in tenth place, and Shiren the Wanderer 5, which ended up in 14th place with just over 25,000 sales. Last week's second place seller, Namco Bandai's Tales of Grace F, fell to ninth this week, while Sony's Gran Turismo 5 dropped from fifth to 16th in this week's sales rankings. The top 20 sales rankings for the week ending December 12, 2010, as reported by Media Create, are as follows: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (Capcom, PSP): 629,541 (Last week: 1) 2. Ni no Kuni (Level-5, DS): 170,548 (NEW) 3. Donkey Kong Returns (Nintendo, Wii): 163,310 (NEW) 4. Pokemon Black & White (Pokemon, DS): 79,819 (Last week: 6) 5. Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo, Wii): 68,430 (Last week: 3) 6. Wii Party (Nintendo, Wii): 55,412 (Last week: 11) 7. Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition (Nintendo, Wii): 53,670 (Last week: 7) 8. Mario vs Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem (Nintendo, DS): 51,828 (Last week: 4) 9. Tales of Graces F (Namco Bandai, PS3): 39,640 (Last week: 2) 10. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Ubisoft, PS3): 36,098 (NEW) 11. Super Fossil Fighters 2 (Nintendo, NDS): 29,110 (Last week: 13) 12. Magician’s Quest: The Merchant’s Store of Sorcery (Konami, DS): 27,443 (Last week: 14) 13. Kriby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo, Wii): 26,435 (Last week: 16) 14. Shiren the Wanderer 5 (Chunsoft, DS): 25,192 (NEW) 15. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii): 24,454 (Last week: 17) 16. Gran Turismo 5 (Sony, PS3): 23,929 (Last week: 5) 17. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 21,366 (Last week: unranked) 18. Taiko Drum Master Wii 3 (Namco Bandai, Wii): 21,211 (Last week: 12) 19. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 20,520 (Last week: 19) 20. Momotaro Railway: World (Hudson, DS): 20,487 (Last week: 8)