Japanese Xbox 360 Sales Rise On 'Slim' Hardware, Monster Hunter

A new smaller form factor and Monster Hunter Frontier Online helped raise weekly Japanese Xbox 360 sales week-over-week, tracking firm Media Create revealed Friday. For the week ended June 27, the console sold 17,370, up from 2,060 units the prior week. Xbox 360 also had the top-selling game for the week with Capcom's Monster Hunter Frontier Online, an MMORPG based on the popular Monster Hunter franchise. Monster Hunter Frontier Online originally launched on PC in 2007. Microsoft's newly redesigned, slimmer Xbox 360 and a price cut to older models also helped drive sales of the console. The new 250GB Xbox 360 S released on June 24 in Japan. But despite the spike, Xbox 360 still only reached the fifth spot on the rankings. Still benefiting from a price cut, Nintendo's DS line led hardware sales once again, selling a total of 64,191 units, up from 53,523 units a week prior. The PSP line came in a distant second with 24,102 units sold during the week, up from 21,766. Below are the full sales rankings from Media Create for the week ended June 27, 2010. (The second chart lumps together sales of all models in a given line of hardware.)