It was a big, big week for the role-playing game in Japan, with the release—and immediate success—of Dragon Quest VI for the Nintendo DS and, to a lesser degree, Sega's latest effort End of Eternity.

Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi debuted to more than 900,000 copies sold in Japan this week, according to Media Create. Its nearest competitor was Sega's aforementioned futuristic RPG End of Eternity (known as Resonance of Fate around these parts) with more than 145,000 copies sold across the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku also repped the RPG genre, debuting in the top ten with 82,000 units sold.

The PlayStation 3 was thrice represented in Media Create's top ten by Zipper Interactive's MAG, adding another 19,000 players to the war. Top software sales in Japan for the week of Jan 23 - Jan 30, 2020 are as follows:

01. Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (DS) - 906,000 / NEW
02. End of Eternity (PS3) - 118,000 / NEW
03. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 84,000 / 3,201,000
04. Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku (PS3) - 82,000 / NEW
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 45,000 / 2,742,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 33,000 / 1,583,000
07. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 30,000 / 713,000
08. End of Eternity (Xbox 360) - 27,000 / NEW
09. Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP) - 24,000 / 118,000
10. MAG (PS3) - 19,000 / NEW

Full listing and hardware data after the break..

The PC charts were last week dominated by the likes of Mass Effect 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Star Trek Online. No surprises there. So we'll instead focus our admiration on Tim Schafer's Psychonauts instead.

The platformer was on sale for $2 during this time, and made it to #8 on the Steam charts. I will now remind you that the Steam charts are determined on revenue, not units sold, so Psychonauts obviously sold a ton, spreading good will and cheer to those with the foresight to see what they'd been missing all this time.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending January 30

Steam

After giving up the first place spot to Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep for a couple weeks, Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii returns to the top of the weekly Media Create sales charts.

It was still a pretty good week for PSP software, however, with Sega's Valkyria Chronicles debuting in second place with 94,000 copies sold, followed by Namco Bandai's Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces. Kingdom Hearts and Monster Hunter helped the PlayStation Portable snag four of the top ten spots, the rest occupied by Wii and DS software.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 debut, by the way, was better than that of its PlayStation 3 predecessor. While the Japanese install base for each PlayStation platform was markedly different for each game's release, I wouldn't be surprised to see future Valkyria games sticking to a handheld platform.

Here are the top thirty games in Japan, according to Media Create, for the week of January 18 to 24, 2010.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 111,000 / 3,117,000
02. Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP) - 94,000 / NEW
03. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces (PSP) - 76,000 / NEW
04. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 60,000 / 683,000
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 45,000 / 2,696,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 34,000 / 1,550,000
07. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) - 23,000 / 96,000
08. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (the Best) - 16,000 / 102,000
09. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 16,000 / 1,707,000
10. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 14,000 / 1,047,000

More, including hardware numbers, after the break..

Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep managed to maintain its bestselling status in Japan this week, fending off the triple platinum seller New Super Mario Bros. Wii in it second week.

The newest Kingdom Hearts for the PSP didn't have much in the way of competition, with the exception of top ten debuts Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles for the Wii, Tekken 6 for the PSP and Last Window: Mayonaka no Yakusoku for the Nintendo DS.

A handful of games already released in the West managed to secure top thirty spots on Media Create's weekly sales chart. The Japanese debut of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising can be spotted on this week's chart.

For the bestselling games in Japan for the week of January 11 to 17, 2009, look no further..

01. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 177,000 / 623,000
02. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 139,000 / 3,006,000
03. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) - 73,000 / NEW
04. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 55,000 / 2,651,000
05. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 42,000 / 1,516,000
06. Tekken 6 (PSP) - 25,000 / NEW
07. Last Window: Mayonaka no Yakusoku (DS) - 25,000 / NEW
08. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) - 22,000 / 489,000
09. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 22,000 / 1,691,000
10. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 22,000 / 1,033,000

All the rest as well as hardware data after the break.

The nominations are in for the 10th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, with Uncharted 2, Flower, and Assassin's Creed II dominating the nominating.

Naughty Dog could win big at the 10th annual awards show, held every year during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has been nominated for no less than seven awards, including Best Game Design, Best Visual Art, Best Technology, and the coveted Game of the Year award. In fact, the only four categories Uncharted 2 isn't up for are the ones it doesn't qualify for - Best Debut, Best Downloadable, Best New Social / Online, and Best Handheld.

Check out the full list below to see if your favorite game got a nod. Keep in mind, these nominations are made by game industry professionals, so these are the best games as picked by the folks that make them.

June's release of The Sims 3 bested World of Warcraft for the crown of 2009's best selling PC game, according to numbers released today by the NPD Group. Modern Warfare 2, despite a November release, was a strong fifth.

Dragon Age: Origins also saw a November release and also made the top 10, at No. 9. It was one of five games from 2009 to do so in a sector where titles have a longer sales lifespan than on consoles.

Nintendo also sold another 2.4 million copies of Wii Fit Plus and 1.79 million copies of Wii Sports Resort last month, securing the top three spots on NPD's list of December's bestselling games. Nintendo had six of the top ten bestselling games for the month, representing more than 9.62 million games sold across the Wii and DS platforms.

And that's just in the top ten.

The Xbox 360 had three of the top ten, with Modern Warfare 2 moving another 1.63 million, Assassin's Creed II (783.1K) and Left 4 Dead 2 (728.5K) also charting high. Modern Warfare 2 represented the PlayStation 3's only top ten showing, another million-plus copies sold.

Here's the tally, from 11/29/09 - 1/2/10, according to the NPD Group.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 2,820,000
02. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 2,410,000
03. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 1,790,000
04. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) - 1,630,000
05. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) - 1,120,000
06. Wii Play (Wii) - 1,010,000
07. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 936,1000
08. Assassin's Creed II (Xbox 360) - 783,1000
09. Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) - 728,500
10. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) - 656,700

There is much more after the break..

Only the combined power of Disney and Square Enix can put Mario's video game sales dominance in Japan on pause. For now, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is the country's bestselling game.

The latest Kingdom Hearts game—this one for the PSP—sold 446,000 more UMDs to Japanese gamers, the week's only new release to make Media Create's top thirty software sales chart. New Super Mario Bros. Wii was well behind Square Enix's newest crossover RPG, another 159,000 copies sold.

The rest of the top ten should be familiar, with Tomodachi Collection, Wii Fit Plus and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks rounding out the first five spots. Square's other game, Final Fantasy XIII moved another 42,000 during the slow week of January 4 to 10, 2009, pushing it ever closer to the 2 million mark.

For the rest of the top 30, where nothing much has changed, and this week's hardware data, read on..

01. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 446,000 / NEW
02. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 159,000 / 2,867,000
03. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 94,000 / 2,596,000
04. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 54,000 / 1,474,000
05. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) - 49,000 / 466,000
06. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - 42,000 / 1,844,000
07. Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver (DS) - 37,000 / 3,577,000
08. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 37,000 / 1,013,000
09. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 33,000 / 1,669,000
10. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) - 27,000 / 533,000

More after the break..

DREAM THEATER Contributing New Instrumental Song 'Raw Dog' To 'God Of War' Soundtrack

Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER have contributed a brand new instrumental song, "Raw Dog", to the digital extended play (EP) soundtrack for the highly anticipated PlayStation3-exclusive videogame "God of War III". The EP, titled "God of War: Blood & Metal", will be released in March as a part of the "God of War III Ultimate Edition", and will feature five exclusive unreleased songs from Roadrunner artists, including KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, TRIVIUM, OPETH and TAKING DAWN.

With no new releases charting in Japan, it's another week for New Super Mario Bros. Wii to dominate the competition with another quarter million plus sold. What other Nintendo games are selling like gangbusters in Japan this week?

The rest of the chart that isn't New Super Mario Bros. Wii looks like familiar stuff — Tomodachi Collection, Final Fantasy XIII, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Wii Fit Plus, et al. On a more exciting note, it looks like FFXIII will cross the 2 million sold mark in Japan before January ends, New Super Mario Bros. Wii passing 3 million, probably within the next five to ten minutes.

And look! It's the return of Animal Crossing DS and Wii Play to the top thirty bestselling games in Japan, according to Media Create! Those are some legs...

Anyway, here's the games that Japan snapped up for the week of December 28 to January 3, 2009. Hardware data to follow.. Also look forward to our year end totals due around the 14th of Jan.

01. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 268,000 / 2,708,000
02. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 186,000 / 2,502,000
03. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) - 126,000 / 418,000
04. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - 112,000 / 1,802,000
05. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 105,000 / 1,421,000
06. Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver (DS) - 75,000 / 3,539,000
07. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) - 69,000 / 976,000
08. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 68,000 / 1,636,000
09. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) - 44,000 / 506,000
10. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS) - 43,000 / 602,000