The average number of hours spent per week on online gaming is up 10 percent, to 8 hours a week, according to the results of a study released by the NPD Group today.

"While the percentage of the population that reports playing games has declined slightly, this study details other metrics which point to both stability and growth in both online and offline gaming," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

The PC remains the most-used system for online gaming, according to the report, with 85 percent of online gamers reporting using a PC for online gaming activities.

The re-release of Resident Evil 5 — aka Biohazard on that side of the Pacific — looks like it has already paid for itself, the zombie hunting adventures of Chris and Jill delivering another 143,000 scares to Japanese gamers.

This week also saw another PlayStation 3 exclusive or two arrive in Japan, Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain, selling well enough to score a top ten showing, but unable to push past the long term appeal of Nintendo's Tomodachi Collection. Man, that thing can sell.

Some of the week's other new debuts, like Dante's Inferno for the PS3 and Hyakumanton no Bara Bara for the PSP couldn't muster enough interest in the Japanese consumer to put them in the top ten.

Here are this week's Media Create software numbers..

01. Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition (PS3) - 143,000 / NEW
02. God Eater (PSP) - 64,000 / 470,000
03. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 44,000 / 3,366,000
04. Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (DS) - 44,000 / 1,217,000
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 31,000 / 2,849,000
06. Heavy Rain (PS3) - 27,000 / NEW
07. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 26,000 / 1,665,000
08. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2010: Reverse of Arcadia (DS) - 24,000 / NEW
09. Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International (PS3) - 15,000 / 113,000
10. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 11,000 / 1,761,000

The rest, as well as hardware, after the break.

Namco Bandai’s God Eater manages to hold on to the number 1 spot for a second week. The PSP title sells 110 000 copies for the week ending the 14th of February, after having debuted in the top spot with 295 405 copies last week.

Dragon Quest IV: Realms of Reverie continues to sell well in second place with 79 000 copies while New Super Mario Bros. Wii climbs one spot to number 3 with 59 000 copies. Prince of Tennis: Prince of School Festival for the DS debuts at number 4 with 44 000 copies and Friend Collection is still at number 5 with 38 000 copies.

Quiz Magic Academy DS is new at number 6 with 32 000 copies while Wii Fit Plus drops to number 7 with 29 000 copies. Star Ocean: The Last Hope for the PS3 drops to number 8 with 26 000 copies after debuting at number 3 last week with 72 026 copies.

Zangeki no Reginkleiv for the Wii enters the charts at number 9 with 22 000 copies and Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for the PS3 is also new at number 10 with 22 000 copies, bringing the total number of Top 10 new entries this week to four.

More, including the charts along with hardware data, after the break..

Namco Bandai's God Eater for the PSP is off to a good start in Japan, giving 295,000 PlayStation Portable owners another taste of Monster Hunter-like hack and slash action.

God Eater's number one debut pushes last week's software winner, Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi for the Nintendo DS to second place, beating out the PlayStation 3 port of Star Ocean 4. That leaves long-legged bestsellers New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Tomodachi Collection settling for lower spots on the chart, but both titles are still selling like the Japanese equivalent of hotcakes.

This week's new debuts, Pop 'n Music Portable and Kunio-kun Nekketsu! Daiundoukai, didn't make much of a stir, but they've got some decent competition.

For Media Create's top 30 games for the week of February 1 to 7, 2010, read on.

01. God Eater (PSP) - 295,000 / NEW
02. Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (DS) - 190,000 / 1,096,000
03. Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International (PS3) - 72,000 / NEW
04. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 62,000 / 3,263,000
05. Tomodachi Collection (DS) - 38,000 / 2,780,000
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 27,000 / 1,610,000
07. End of Eternity (PS3) - 25,000 / 144,000
08. Pop 'n' Music Portable (PSP) - 19,000 / NEW
09. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 15,000 / 730,000
10. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 13,000 / 1,735,000

Much more, including hardware data, after the break..

Space and laser guns feature prominently in this week's PC sales
charts, last week's consumers opting for aliens and bright-coloured
uniforms over olive-grey outfits and the real world.

Least, they did on the whole. You have to overlook Bad Company 2 at
the #1 spot
on Steam if you want to think sci-fi games dominated the entire
charts. But look at Mass Effect! It's there six times on only two
charts.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending February 6, 2010

Steam

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.