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.

Square Enix president Yoichi Wada was recently interviewed by Bloomberg Japan. DUring the interview, he mentioned a few interesting details about Dragon Quest IX for the DS and the direction he wants to see his company go.

If you want to find out what he said, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

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!

Certain analysts may predict that Wii is having a crisis with third-party games, but it looks like there are still some third-party developers who are keen on making games for Nintendo's popular Wii console.

In an interview with Japanese website Inside Games, Akihiro Hino of Level 5 (developer for the Dragon Quest series of games and the adventure series Dark Cloud) has expressed interest in working with the Wii.

Hino did not give further details such as exactly what games Level 5 is trying to develop for the Wii, but with the company's pedigree, this could mean that the Wii will have another great game coming its way. More updates as they come!

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)