Japan's hottest game right now is not made in Japan, which doesn't happen often. Maybe more surprising is that four of the top 10 games on the country's bestseller list weren't made in Japan either.
Rockstar Games and Team Bondi's L.A. Noire enjoyed first place distinction in this week's software chart, with more than 70,000 copies of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game sold overseas. Team Bondi's detective adventure was followed by Sucker Punch's Infamous 2 and Vicious Cycle's Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, the latter of which was previously handled by Japanese developer Sandlot.
One new Wii game charted, the Wii MotionPlus powered Wii Play Motion with another Wii game, the also not made in Japan Goldeneye 007 hanging tough in the top ten.
For the rest of the bestselling games in Japan for the week of July 4 to July 10, courtesy of sales tracker Media Create, read on.
01. L.A. Noire (PS3) - 58,426 / NEW
02. Infamous 2 (PS3) - 33,474 / NEW
03. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (PS3) - 30,189 / NEW
04. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (Xbox 360) - 17,817 / NEW
05. Wii Play Motion (Wii) - 17,008 / NEW
06. Cardboard Senki (PSP) - 15,807 / 244,790
07. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) - 14,985 / 240,738
08. Steins;Gate (PSP) - 13,700 / 99,088
09. Goldeneye 007 (Wii) - 13,216 / 49,390
10. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 12,877 / 388,074
11. L.A. Noire (Xbox 360)
12. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (PS3)
13. Meruru no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi 3 (PS3)
14. Tales of the Abyss (3DS)
15. To Heart 2: Dungeon Travelers (PSP)
16. Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono. 3D x 3D (3DS)
17. Pokemon Black / White (DS)
18. Gundam Memories: Tatakai no Kioku (PSP)
19. Yakuza: Of The End (PS3)
20. Suzumiya Haruhi-Chan no Mahjong (PSP)
The hardware contest in Japan was once again won by the PlayStation Portable, with the Nintendo 3DS trailing not far behind—and the PS3 trailing even more closely to Nintendo's portable. Now that the PlayStation Store is back in business in Japan, it seems (marginal) interest has been renewed in the PSPgo.
PSP - 26,373
Nintendo 3DS - 22,943
PlayStation 3 - 22,900
Wii - 13,068
Nintendo DSi LL - 4,811
Nintendo DSi - 4,725
Xbox 360 - 2,016
PlayStation 2 - 1,309
Nintendo DS Lite - 56
PSPgo - 34