Xboxist

What's Hot in Japan? Mass Effect

The weekly software sales charts are out for Japan, and they show a surprising boost for Microsoft, as the localized release of Mass Effect managed to snag a spot among the top three software titles.

The Japanese localization of Mass Effect was in good company last week. The top-selling game of the week was a Nintendo DS spinoff of the popular Professor Layton puzzle series called Sloan and Michael's Mysterious Story. For the week, however, it sold just 44,000 units.

Sega's Pro Baseball Team! 2 (also for the DS) managed to take the second spot with 39,000 copies sold.

Even though it was a slow week in terms of overall numbers, it is still exciting to see Mass Effect in the top ten with sales of 18,000 copies. Microsoft has struggled to gain traction in Japan with its Xbox 360 console this generation, but several high-profile games have managed to top the charts in the past, including Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Just beneath Mass Effect is the budget re-release of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. That game will be arriving on the PSP in North America and Europe next month.