Sony Reveals PlayStation Awards In Japan

Officials from Sony have announced the winners of the annual PlayStation awards in Japan, for the titles which have sold in the greatest volume between May 2005 and 2006. The awards are judged solely on retail performance in Japan and do not take into account their critical response from either the media or consumers. Although PSP titles are considered for the awards only one title, Capcom’s Monster Hunter Freedom was applicable. The only Double Platinum Award, for titles which sold between 2 and 3 million units, went to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XII on the PlayStation 2. There were three Platinum awards, though, for titles selling over 1 million units, in the shape of Kingdom Hearts II (PS2, Square Enix), World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 (PS2, Konami) and World Soccer Winning Eleven 10 (PS2, Konami). A total of nine gold awards were given for titles which sold over 500,000 units in Japan. They are: Biohazard 4, aka Resident Evil 4 (PS2, Capcom); Monster Hunter 2 (PS2, Capcom); Monster Hunter Portable, aka Monster Hunter Freedom (PSP, Capcom); Sengoku Musou 2, aka Samurai Warriors 2 (PS2, Koei); Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2, Square Enix); Dragon Ball Sparking!, aka Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (PS2, Bandai Namco); Tales of the Abyss (PS2, Bandai Namco); Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen Alpha: Shuuen no Ginga e (PS2, Banpresto); and Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 12 (PS2, Konami).