Friend Collection Sells Out -- Tsutaya

Yuka used to promote Friend Collection. She was also featured in television commercials.

Looks like DS is going to have another week at the top of the hardware and software charts. Tsutaya merchandizer Taketo Matsuo, in his weekly sales report at Mainichi.jp says that Nintendo's friend collection sold out at all shops in its debut week (it's unclear if he's referring to just Tsutaya shops or to other shops as well). The game sold 1.5 times better than he'd expected, a success he attributes to the game matching the Animal Crossing crowd and to Nintendo's use of Yuka as a spokesperson.

For the week of June 15 to June 21, Tsutaya data has Friend Collection (DS) in first place, followed by Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS), Fate/Unlimited Code Portable (PSP), Sloan and McHale's Mystery Story (DS), and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP). There were no new titles in the top ten aside from Friend Collection and Fate/Unlimited.

For next week's charts, Matsuo expects the obvious: a first place finish for Wii Sports Resort (the game arrives on Thursday!). He believes Resort will be popular as a health game to follow Wii Fit.

Following this, he expects Friend Collection to remain in second, and the PS3 version of BlazBlue to take third. Pre-orders for BlazBlue are strong, he said.