Professor Layton spoils Wii Fit debut

Even the allure of a balancing beam sim couldn't keep Japanese gamers from gobbling up another helping of brain benders carefully wrapped in an adorable adventure starring Professor Layton. Layton Kyouju to Akuma no Hako (call it 'Professor Layton and Pandora's Box'), the second installment in Level 5's self-published trilogy for DS, topped weekly Japanese software sales, selling an estimated 294,000 units in the face of Wii Fit -- not that Nintendo's latest outside-the-box concept didn't attract strong sales. Reports of long lines and retail sellouts have been confirmed by Wii Fit sales figures: an estimated 261,000 units, supporting a combined weight of nearly 40,000 tons.

Just below the top two earners, Namco Bandai's strategy game SD Gundam G Generation Spirits accounted for an estimated 252,000 copies in its first week proving PS2 still has legs, while Square Enix's Dragon Quest IV remake for DS continued another impressive week of sales with an estimated 135,000 units sold. The Xbox 360 version of Assassin's Creed even made an impression, moving a modest 41,000 units to become the eighth best-selling title of the week. Next week: Lost Odyssey takes a crack at the charts.