It is only since I started writing about Famitsu that I have begun to realize just how popular it is. It hits specialized outlets on Thursdays but most find it at conveniences store on Friday mornings. If you are hoping for a copy at your local store come twelve o’clock however you may find yourself out of luck such is the popularity of the weekly magazine.

Outside Japan there are very few speakers of Japanese, which is perhaps the reason for the popularity of the magazine. With so little online game coverage in the native language, many rely on the publication for all their gaming news. With that in mind this week’s magazine features Gamecom. Numerous pages of solid text interspersed with the occasional picture; telling me news I heard last week, with of course a heavy focus on the new PS3.

Also inside we see the near monthly Final Fantasy 13 update. This week the focus is on the blonde Bayonetta look alike Jihl Nabaat, and the unabashed Sephiroth rip off Yaag Rosch.

Reviews this week revolve around the standard Japanese fodder. The handhelds see Love Plus for DS, which seems to be some kind of dating games… maybe… and it received a combined score of 32 (8-9-7-8) giving it a gold rating by Famitsu`s standard. The PSP also sees two games, unfortunately they don’t fair so well. The bizarrely named Yamenuma Misa Suspense only managed to scrape a 22 (5-6-5-6) and The Hoheiyuhei 2, from the budge 2500 line of games barely beating it with a total of 23 (6-6-5-6).

The home consoles faired far better. The Wii saw Little Kings Story (also out in the West now) get a whopping 35 (9-9-8-9) earning it the highest Platinum accolade that the magazine offers. Also on Wii is the comical adventure game Tabemon, whose silver award came from its 31 points (8-7-8-8). The final home system offering is the new Dynasty Warriors Gundam game. This title is to be bundled with the PS3 slim when it released here next month, and while as a Gundam game it would sell regardless of score, a rating of 33 cannot hurt its chances (8-8-9-8 – gold).

The sales chart this week look very different to last week. Making my previous predictions look quite foolish. Both Dragon Quest 9 and Monster Hunter 3 Tri have dropped from their one and two spots to two and four respectively. Dragon Quest’s decent is probably mostly due to three percent of the country already owing it with over three and a half million units already sold. Replacing it in the number one slot is the new SD Gundam game for PS2 (yes 2) that cleared two hundred and fifty thousand units in its opening week.

Hardware sales continue in their slump. Without Monster Hunter’s influence the new black Wii couldn’t maintain its momentum. The PS3 also dipped this week with the new slim on its way and the Japanese market being as fad prone as it is Sony at least can expect this to rebound in the coming months.

This week’s idol is Ai Chan, who graced the front cover in the absence of a major new release (see picture). It is always a tricky when the editors go with an idol over game art because it always feels like you are buying an illicit magazine, so here’s hoping for a big release next week.