Mario Kart Wii cannot be toppled, even by the crossbow powers of Link. Zelda's constant savior aimed for third on the Japanese sales charts with Link's Crossbow Training, Mario Kart Wii and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G still holding tight at numbers one and two for the fourth week in a row.

Wii Fit and Monster Hunter for PSP are on the cusp of hitting the 2 million mark, just as Wii Sports prepares to ship its 3 millionth copy in Japan. Impressive.

For the rest of the best sellers for the week of April 28 to May 4, hit the jump..

01. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 173,000 / 1,120,000
02. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 102,000 / 1,909,000
03. Link's Crossbow Training (Wii) - 93,000 / NEW
04. Wii Fit (Wii) - 52,000 / 1,986,000
05. Meccha! Taiko Drum Master DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (DS) - 42,000 / 98,000
06. Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage (DS) - 31,000 / 508,000
07. Boura wa Kaseki Holder (DS) - 27,000 / 84,000
08. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) - 24,000 / 102,000
09. Deca Sports (Wii) - 24,000 / 186,000
10. Wii Sports (Wii) - 22,000 / 2,959,000

a for Distribution

200-page comic book will introduce Japanese residents to aircraft carrier

Last year, ANN reported that the United States Navy was planning to create a manga-style book to explain its mission to Japanese audiences. Stars and Stripes, the newspaper for overseas members of the United States Armed Forces, has confirmed that approximately 30,000 individual copies of the book have now been printed. Entitled CVN-73, the manga is meant to promote the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan. ("CVN-73" is this carrier's hull number.) The volume's 200 pages focuses on Jack Ohara, a fictional Japanese-American sailor on his first tour of duty aboard an aircraft carrier, and his mentor Petty Officer 1st Class Elly Benton.

The newly-formed publisher FireSky has announced that registrations for the closed beta of Stargate Worlds is now officially open.

Hopeful players can head over to their website at www.StargateWorlds.com, register for an account, and have their name thrown into a giant hat from which beta testers will be chosen.

The press release follows..

MESA, Ariz. - April 24, 2008 - Stargate Worlds, the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) from new publisher FireSky, is now taking registrations for closed beta at www.StargateWorlds.com .

The closed beta is an invitation-only test of the upcoming science fiction MMORPG Stargate Worlds. Invitations will be sent out this spring and summer as the Stargate Worlds team ramps up the numbers for testing.

Since we've been talking numbers the last couple post or so, here are some of the "to date" sales number from Japan as published recently by Media Create. we also have the hardware sales for the last week, with Sony's Portable gaining ground, and surpassing the DS's weekly sales figures.

2008-04-17 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl boosted Wii sales to abnormal heights last month, according to official console ware bean counter, the NPD Group.

As far as hardware numbers go, Nintendo sold 720,000 Wiis last month; more than double that of combined Xbox 360 and PS3 sales, and almost enough to match the combined sales of all other consoles when including PS2.

"Across hardware, software, and accessories, the Wii contributed the most to total industry sales, representing 31% of total industry dollars for the month," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

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This week saw a massive sell-through of the second most popular monster fighting game in Japan (after Pokemon) with Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G taking last week's top spot.

This shows that the defection of Monster Hunter 3 (currently in production) from PlayStation 3 to Wii, could turn out to be an important strategic move for Nintendo.

This week also saw Brawl finally hit the 1.5 million sales that North America managed in a fraction of the time. Charts and more after the break...

Konami, Namco Bandai, Square-Enix, and Ubisoft are just some of the game companies taking part in this year's New York Comic Con, which will also host a special all-day Gamer's Summit.

The summit will kick off with a look at Gears of Wars 2. Epic Games president Mike Capps and Gears of War 2 scriptwriter Joshua Ortega will be on hand to discuss the origins of the Gears saga, crow about Gears of War's success, and provide a glimpse or two of the sequel.

If the trials and tribulations of Marcus Fenix bore you silly, studios such as CCP, FunCom, Turbine, and 38 Studios will also be there showcasing games like Age of Conan, Eve Online, Iron Man, and Warhammer Online.
The summit will also host panels and discussions on topics such as videogame journalism and starting a career in the video game industry.

New York Comic Con will take place April 18-20, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, with the game summit taking place on Sunday, the 20th.

An onslot of new releases, coinciding with a national holiday celebrating the vernal equinox, has jolted the Japanese charts back into life with one of the busiest weeks of the year so far.

Wii Will Rock You!

MTV Games, Harmonix and EA Announce Rock Band™ for Wii on June 22, 2008. The number one selling game in February 2008 is coming to Wii!

Cambridge, MA - March 24, 2007 -- Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a division of MTV Networks, which is a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced plans to release the award-winning music video game Rock Band on the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo in the U.S. and Canada on June 22, 2008 for the suggested retail price of $169.99.

Rock Band for Wii will be released as a Special Edition bundle including the software, drums, microphone and a wireless guitar. Stand alone instruments will also be available on June 22nd for people who want to build their band one instrument at a time or want to play the drum versus drum game mode. The game will feature 63 songs including five bonus songs for Wii gamers to enjoy.

Saint Patrick's Day is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa 385–461 AD), one of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on March 17th.

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly by non-Irish people (usually in Australia, North America, and Ireland) as well. Celebrations are generally themed around all things Irish and, by association, the color green. Both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green or orange, eating Irish food and/or green foods, imbibing Irish drink (such as Guinness) and attending parades.