Square Enix remakes and Sony's gaming handheld are considered to be among the latest crazes to hit japan Japan as the latest results of the top software and hardware sales from Media Create have finally been tallied. Check out the complete list of what's hot in the country during the week of July 14 to July 20 after the jump.

It seems like Sony has done it again as the PlayStation Portable has once again dominated the sales charts in Japan for yet another week. On the flip side of things, five new video game titles have wedged themselves into the top slots of the software market. Find out the latest Media Create sales numbers in Japan for the week for June 23 to June 29 right after the jump.

Pachinko games are currently a big part of Japanese PlayStation culture (with Samurai Warriors Pachinko one of their latest pachi-slot games), but with the advent of Namco Bandai's Kidou Senshi Gundam II Pachi-Slot Gundam Ai Senshi Hen for the Wii, it looks like the pachinko games are going to make a new home out of Nintendo's motion-sensing console. Read on to view screenshots of this Gundam-themed pachi-slot game!

Sony Japan has added ten new downloadable PlayStation titles to its PlayStation Store offerings. These PSOne classics can be downloaded to the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 video game platforms for 600 yen (around US$ 5) each. Here's a list of the new titles:

• Sanwa Pachinko Paradise
• Sanwa Pachinko Paradise 2
• Alundra
• XII Jumbo
• Popologue
• Hanafuda Graffiti Koikoi Monogatari
• Echo Night #2
• King's Field III

While this is already a sizable addition, what's even bigger news is that this is only the first of two updates. Apparently, the Japanese PlayStation Store will be getting two archive updates a month starting this month. We'll bring you more updates as soon as the next batch of PSOne titles are announced.

The Tokyo Game Show is looming ever so near and we're prepping up for what the developers have in store for us. One such developer doesn't seem to want us guessing what they're offering come TGS: Sega. Sega's official website has been updated with their line-up for this year and we have to say the the list ain't too shabby. Not shabby at all.

Remember Ryu Ga Gotoku? It was better known as Yakuza on these and Europe's shores. Hopefully, we'll finally see a sequel (Ryu Ga Gotoku 2 doesn't really count as it was only released in Japan) and it's going to come busting to the PlayStation 3. It is currently called Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzen and is scheduled for spring of next year.

Sega is pretty much loaded in titles for the PS3, DS, PS2, and Wii, while the Xbox 360 and PSP rosters are a bit bare. The titles to keep an eye on are Bleach: The Third Phantom, Battlefield of the Valkyrie, Sonic Rush Adventure, and Ghost Squad, among others. Anyway, here's the list with their respective ETAs courtesy of Siliconera.

PlayStation 3

• Imabi Kisou - Oct. 25
• Sega Rally - Jan 2008
• Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzen- Spring 2008
• Battlefield of the Valkyrie - Spring 2008
• The Golden Compass - Spring 2008

Wii

• Ghost Squad - Oct 25
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams - Dec 13
• Mibiru & Tebri – Jan. 08
• The Golden Compass - Spring 2008
• Fushigi no Dungeon - Furai no Shiren 3: Karakuri Yashiki no Nemuri Hime - 2008

The rest of the list comes after the jump!

 

It's not a very well known fact, but coating pachinko machines with famous licenses often result in phenomenal sales - especially in home turf Japan. If you thought Dynasty Warriors: Gundam was far out, this is a lot better: Siliconera reports that Samurai Warriors Pachinko will be arriving on the PS3.

As of now, the game isn't planned to see release outside Japan. Not much info is available for the game, but then again, what else is there to know about pachinko? These machines aren't exactly taboo, and you can probably find one in the nearest arcade. Unfortunately, some places don't allow the underaged to play.

We don't know when game will hit the shelves, but there's one thing we can safely bet on: Japan will go crazy when Samurai Warriors Pachinko comes out, and everyone will line up just to get a copy.

Now when LucasArts thought they had one fixer-upper to leverage their terra-forming shooter, Fracture, they probably didn't see this one coming. Midway's take on John Woo's classic "Hard Boiled", Stranglehold, features Massive D (D for Destruction) that allows the player to not only wear away the enemy's cover with bullets, but also take them out with falling objects from above.

 

In the IGN blogs for Stranglehold, senior game designer Patrick Curry described their attempts to litter levels with so many of these "gags," so players will be able to experience total Woo-esque action that only a game sporting a Havok physics engine could deliver. Since the game's revelation at E3, they've started work on the Hong Kong Marketplace, and their ideas started from their design of that map. Curry explains in general detail:

The first thing we did was make all of the neon store signs hanging in the Market destructible, so when you shoot them they’ll crush anyone below. Then we did the same to air conditioners, precariously hanging out of windows. And then we got crazy and using our Havok goodness, made signs that swing and take out multiple enemies at once. It was a really fun time in our project, getting to try out all the new tech toys we’d made, and see the fruits of our labor in the form of crazy enemy deaths.

Now they've gone all out, taking turns in designing their own nifty traps within levels to give any player enough options for solving the enemy swarm problem - not that they're much of a problem anyway. Some of the designers, in fact, have become quite adept at designing hidden "gags" that they've become masters at it.

"A couple of our designers have become masters of gags, and when we need something totally over the top and Woo-esque, we bring them in and let them go nuts. It’s totally amazing what they’ve come up with!" blogged Curry. When you do pick up this game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, expect to send baddies flying from gas leak explosions, bowling down pachinko machines and squished flat like the critters they are.

Sega Sammy Holdings profits have dropped 34 percent as of the end of their fiscal year this March. The game and pinball company which merged last October 2004 apparently lost money due to the drop in interest at pachinko parlors in Japan. This is bad news.

While the company did not give an exact breakdown of their quarterly earnings. They announced a profit of only 43.5 billion yen (about US$ 363 million) compared to last years 66.2 billion yen (about US$ 550 million). Their quarterly sales dropped by 4.5 percent. Sega Sammy attributed their loss to the 20% drop in pachinko machine sales in the last fiscal year.

They are already projecting a paltry 35 billion yen (US$ 292 million) profit for the fiscal year through March 2008. As expected due to the financial difficulties, shares of the said company went down by 1.5 percent to 2,895 yen (US$ 24).

This is bad news for Sega Sammy since there has been no word whether a turn-around of their situation is expected. Well, given the market they cater to, anything can happen right?

A few days ago, we told you about an upcoming game somehow related to Pachinko. This game called Ken the Survivor is based on a manga series. It's whole name in Japanese reads as Jissen Pachi-Slot Pachinko Hisshôhô! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii.

The word is out now that Jissen supports the Mii and Wi-Fi capabilities of the Wii, and is being produced by a third party. Interesting, because there has been a lot of talk about how Nintendo has not provided any third-parties with the necessary tools to use Miis, or even online capabilities in their games.

Although it's not sure if Jissen will ever make it to the US, being a Pachinko game, fans are excited because Jissen might be the the start for Nintendo to move into more online territory and Mii usage.

If you still don't have any idea of what Pachinko is, it's a highly addictive arcade game where the player shoots steel balls from the top of the screen, hoping to hit all of the lighted slots in order to win more rewards. It's the only form of gambling legalized in Japan.

We don't know if you're aware of this, but there exists a manga called "Ken the Survivor". Now, we just got word LiveWii that Sega will soon come up with a game based on the said manga to be released exclusively on Nintendo's new console. It's quite curious that the gameplay is somehow related to a Pachinko.

Developed sometime after World War II, Pachinko is a gaming device that is somewhat a hybrid of a pinball machine and a video slot machine. We don't know if you're old enough to enter casinos, but those places abound with Pachinko machines.

Going back to "Ken the Survivor", only a few details are known about the title as of now. We just know that this game's based on Sega's Sammy pachinko games and will be released in Japan on May 24. A European release is being considered as well. If you want to know, the game's full Japanese title is Jissen Pachi-Slot Pachinko Hisshôhô! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii, or Fighting Pachinko/Pachislot Victory Way! Sammy's Collection Fist of the North Star Wii. Quite a mouthful.