A strong week for PS3 games with all three major releases make it to the Top 10 of the latest Japanese software charts. Rorona no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi is the best selling among them as expected with more than 40,000 copies sold, it is also the third best starting week for Gust’s popular RPG series. However, BlazBlue actually sold more than 50,000 copies if combined with the Xbox 360 version. Compile Heart sexy looking RPG Agarest Senki Zero also made a positive start with 14,000 copies sold.

Note: Charts will be updated with more figures when they become available.

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Another barren week for PS3 and it remains to be seen if Rorona no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi, BlazBlue and Agarest Senki Zero, all coming out in Japan earlier today, will give the console its much needed boost. However, there’s almost nothing that coming up in the following weeks too, so any bump will be temporary.

Note: Charts will be updated with more figures when they become available.

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Apparently Street Fighter IV is still hot among the Famitsu editors and they decided to interview Producer Yoshinori Ono to discuss more about the game recently (July issue of Famitsu PSP + PS3) where he talks about the pressure in making the game a reality, why he thinks it’s an alumni, his favorite character and also the reason behind Chun Li’s muscular legs.

The game shipped 2 million copies in its second week and Ono is thankful to players who have always supported the series. Not only they made it possible for the rebirth of the series, they have also sent in plenty of encouraging messages during development. He admits that this is the most tiring project he involved in so far, thanks to the amount of time the series spent in “dormant” and the enormous pressure in touching the characters some consider as the king of Street Fighter II. This kind of pressure come from within the company too, there were many ideas being suggested and some even consider everything there is to be done has been done in Street Fighter III.

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Bayonetta picks up plenty of hypes post E3 and attracted plenty of previously not interested gamers like me to the title. Weekly Famitsu (issue 6/26) gave Platinum Games’ grand looking action game a 6-page “Scoop” recently that comes with an interview with Director Hideki Kamiya and Producer Yusuke Hashimoto.

The discussion starts with the mysterious woman in red, Jeanne (above), who Hashimoto confirms will be Bayonetta’s main rival and has an important role in the game. Kamiya says Jeanne’s design is purposely a direct opposite of Bayonetta’s and since she is not a playable character, the design process was done pretty quick.

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Another slow week in Japan so Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires gets to keep its Top 10 position in the charts. Tales of Vesperia finally getting a release date (September 17th) and as usual for newly opened pre-orders, it went straight to the top of the Amazon chart.

Note: Charts will be updated with more figures when they become available.

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Loving the theme song from Bonnie Pink very much here and Production I.G.’s animation is always something special for me. Here’s a special promo video to announce the special showing of Tales of Vesperia Movie on October 3rd.

Source: Official website

Didn’t get to write anything about The Last Guardian’s recent unveils but needless to say it’s a truly jaw dropping trailer for me. To think that I will be able to interact with this giant eagle (as the official Japanese title “Hitokui no Oowashi Trico” infers, I thought it’s a cat) and explore the dream-like setting soon feel a little unreal for me. Although we get to see many actions from both the boy and the animal, plus plenty of gameplay mechanics being shown, the trailer is still so full of mystery for me. Luckily, Weekly Famitsu gets to interview Fumito Ueda, the game designer and director for the title, and he shared some of the thinking that went behind the animal and the game as a whole.

Note: This interview has been professionally translated at 1Up and IGN, I simply re-translate with more details. Famitsu has also published the interview online here.

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Will buy this game for the music alone, it also helps that the game has likable characters and looks really great. Rorona no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi is coming out real soon, less than two weeks, in Japan.

Idea Factory, Gust and Nippon Ichi Software is working on the next PS3 RPG with characters from Atelier and Disgaea series. One of the features they highlighted for Trinity Universe is the AAA system (it stands for Active Animation Adventure), which is an advanced animation system used to make the characters look lively while talking to each on screen (read the overview of the game here). Does it works? The above video should tell. The game will be out this September in Japan.

The PS3 software drought in Japan continues with Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires the only game for the system that stays in the Top 10.

Note: Charts will be updated with more figures when they become available.

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