For over a year now, it's been the same old story in Famitsu's Most Wanted list: Japanese gamers who took part in their polls voted Final Fantasy XIII as the most anticipated title. It's claimed the throne for over twelve months already, but that's changed now. What are Japanese gamers looking forward to the most these days? Dragon Quest IX for the DS. Yeah, leave it to the Japanese gamers to replace an RPG with another RPG - another Square Enix RPG, for that matter - on their most wanted list.

Media Create has released the Japan software sales chart for the week of January 14 to 20. It seems that Nintendo's Wii Fit is holding strong at first place followed closely by Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Nintendo DS and Mario Party DS.

If you want to know more, the head on over to the full article.

Media Create has recently published its results for Japan's game sales for the week ending January 13. Wii and DS titles such as Wii Fit dominate the top ten, though you may want to look over the surprise comeback of a PSP title in the list's top five. Details await in the full article.

After last week's new releases, it doesn't come as a surprise when Media Create's latest software sales chart for December 3 to December 9 is almost dominated by previously released titles. Some newcomers such as Tales of Innocence and Lost Odyssey, however, fought for the top ten and came close to claiming Wii Fit 's throne.

Find out what's hot in Japan by checking out the full article!

Nintendo once again reclaims the throne in Japan, after an early return was witnessed for the week of November 26 to December 2. A few weeks back, the PlayStation 3 finally broke ahead of the Wii's sales numbers and many anticipated that Sony's console would remain in the lead in the holiday season. Things seemed to have normalized in Japan, and the numbers Media Create has recently released favors Nintendo. More info awaits at the full article.

Media Create's software sales chart for the week ending December 2 shows that Nintendo DS titles still sell the most software with Level 5's Professor Layton and Pandora's Box on top. On the other hand, the Wii Balance Board peripheral proved attractive enough and sold many copies of Wii Fit along with it. To know what's hot in Japan, head over to the full article!

While Microsoft is readying up a media barrage for North America to promote Bungie's Halo 3 game (Xbox 360), it looks like Japan's populace may not be quite as receptive. Famitsu's latest "Most Wanted" polls of the region indicate that the game is gone from the poll's top 20 list, being overrun by Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends for the PlayStation 2.

Games making another appearance in the list include White Knight Story and The Last Remnant (PS3, Xbox 360). And in case you're wondering, the lists' top five stalwarts are still there, solidly rooted to their current places - at least until more developments arise.

1. Dragon Quest IX (NDS, Square Enix)
2. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
3. Biohazard 5 (PS3, Capcom)
4. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3, Konami)
5. Monster Hunter 3 (PS3, Capcom)
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
7. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
8. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII (PSP, Square Enix)
9. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3, Capcom)
10. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)  
11. The Last Remnant (PS3, Xbox 360; Square Enix)
12. Animal Crossing (Wii, Nintendo)
13. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
14. Final Fantasy IV (NDS, Square Enix)
15. Ash (DS, Mistwalker)
    
16. Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends (PS2, Koei)
17. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii, Capcom)
18. White Knight Story (PS3, Sony)
19. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3, Sony)
20. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (NDS, Level 5)
    

It looks like the recent Gran Turismo 5 updates have perked up attention in Japan too. Famitsu's most wanted ending July 19 indicates that aside from stalwarts like Dragon Quest IX, MGS4, and Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360, PS3), Polyphony Digital's much-anticipated racing game for the PlayStation 3 finds itself among the list's top 20.

Another game that appears to have caught the population's eye is Imabi Kisou. The title's reportedly a horror game, although that's the only detail we know for the moment. And since we jotted it down in Japanese, we'd really appreciate it if the more Nihonggo-literate patrons here could let the guys know on what Imabi Kisou means in plain English.

1. Dragon Quest IX (NDS, Square Enix)
2. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
3. Biohazard 5 (PS3, Capcom)
4. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3, Konami
5. Monster Hunter 3 (PS3, Capcom)
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
7. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
8. Animal Crossing (Wii, Nintendo)
9. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII (PSP, Square Enix)
10. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3, Capcom)
11. Final Fantasy IV (NDS, Square Enix)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, Nintendo)
13. Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends (PS2, Koei)
14. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
15. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)
16. Halo 3 (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
17. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3, Sony)
18. Ash (NDS, Mistwalker)
19. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (NDS, Level 5)     398
20. Imabi Kisou (PS3, Sega)

Electronic Gaming Monthly, or EGM, is known for its rumors bin - and its biting and mostly unforgiving reviews. We found a thread at NeoGAF detailing the important parts of EGM's September issue. We'll skip the abysmal scores of Lair and Blue Dragon, instead, we'll give you the Metroid Prime 3: Corruption details and the issue in question's rumors bin.

The lucky guys at EGM were able to preview Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The verdict? They pointed out four things in particular. More action since there is more shooting, though exploration is still a big part of the game. Also, they mentioned a "lock-on free shooting" feature. Second point is the Wii controls, they indicated that it adds to the game's experience.

Third, they mentioned that the ship plays a major role in the game as players can use it as a mobile save point. Also, there were hints of aerial combat on the ship's options as well. Lastly, it was pointed out that "no Samus talking".

Next up is the rumors bin. Six were mentioned for the issue, most notable perhaps is the one about the maker of Jeanne d'Arc and Dragon Quest VIII - Level 5 is going to announce four new RPGs at the coming Tokyo Game Show (TGS). It was also said that Square Enix will start remaking another RPG franchise, Dragon Quest. Reportedly, it will be starting with Dragon Quest 4 for the DS.

EGM also ventured to speculate about the failure rates of Xbox 360s; apparently, Microsoft is "funneling all the best 360 parts to the elite model".

They also took a shot at Electronics Arts' Def Jam, saying that the next one in the franchise will be better than Icon. Another interesting piece of info is the one about IO Interactive, devs of Kane and Lynch. According to the report, IO will be making - or is already making - a kids' game.

Lastly, they reported that the next James Bond video game will be using Call of Duty 4's game engine.

What do you think? For now, we'll put all of these into rumors bin until they are given official confirmation.

 

What people have, and what they want are two very different things. And while Nintendo's been dominating last month's NPD software and hardware sales reports, a weekly Famitsu survey indicates that many in the Land of the Rising Sun are looking forward to the PlayStation 3's upcoming crop of messiahs titles. Here's a summary of the survey's top 20 most wanted console software, for the week ending April 26. 

1. Dragon Quest IX (NDS, Square Enix)
2. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
3. Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Capcom)
4. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3, Konami)
5. Monster Hunter 3 (PS3, Capcom)
6. Odin Sphere (PS2, Atlus)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, Nintendo)
8. Super Robot Wars: Original Generations (PS2, Banpresto)
9. Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii, Square Enix)
10. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
11. Shining Wind (PS2, Sega)
12. Everybody's Golf 5 (PS3, Sony)
13. Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
14. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3, Capcom)
15. Animal Crossing (Wii, Nintendo)
16. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
17. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP, Square Enix)
18. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)
19. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3, Sony)
20. Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village (NDS, Level 5)
    

These sentiments appear to mirror those on our side of the globe as well - MGS4 and FF XIII are certainly on our wish list. Just be sure to take into consideration that this survey was taken one month ago - future results may vary.