Dark Souls, ICO HD top Japan chart

Dark Souls roared to the top of the Japanese software chart in its debut week, shifting a very impressive 279,567 copies.

From Software's keenly anticipated Demon's Souls follow up beat the ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD set into second place, with Gears of War 3 putting in a respectable first week showing at four.

Further down the chart, EA's Shadows of the Damned seems to be faring no better than it did in the Europe and the US. It debuted at 18, selling just 9145 copies.

Last week's number one, Dragon Quest Collection on Wii, fell to five.

Here's the full top 20, as seen on Andriasang:

1. Dark Souls (From, PS3): 279,567 - NEW
2. ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Limited Box (SCE, PS3): 91,902 - NEW
3. Yu-gi-oh 5D's Tag Force 6 (Konami, PSP): 64,350 - NEW
4. Gears of War 3 (Microsoft, Xbox 360): 56,113 - NEW
5. Dragon Quest Collection (Square Enix, Wii): 54,775 (Life to date: 318,174)
6. Senran Kagura (MMV, 3DS): 52,206 - NEW
7. Busou Shinki Battle Masters Mk.2 (Konami, PSP): 32,318 - NEW
8. ToHeart2 DX Plus (Aqua Plus, PS3): 24,429 - NEW
9. Tales of Xillia (Namco Bandai, PS3): 22,484 (595,386)
10. Champion Jockey Gallop Racer & G1 Jockey (Tecmo Koei, PS3): 18,281 - NEW
11. Rhythm Heaven Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 17,354 (469,914)
12. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP the Best (Capcom, PSP): 14,924 - NEW
13. Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, Wii): 14,876 (566,992)
14. Shadow of the Colossus (SCE, PS3): 13,420 - NEW
15. Kirby Mass Attack (Nintendo, DS): 12,658 (231,815)
16. Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo, 3DS): 11,596 (391,734)
17. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Version (Capcom, PS3): 9263 (383,276)
18. Shadows of the Damned (Electronic Arts, PS3): 9145 - NEW
19. Super Pokémon Scramble (Pokémon, 3DS): 8,722 (170,367)
20. ICO (SCE, PS3): 7941 - NEW

Sony failed to translate all those software sales into a significant spike for the PlayStation 3 over on the hardware chart, with Nintendo's 3DS continuing its recent upswing to hold on to the top spot.

The handheld sold 70,159 last week, up from 58,837 the week prior. Impressive, considering the system only has one game in the software top 10.

Elsewhere console sales remained largely flat, though Xbox 360 saw some uplift from the Gears 3 release. Full details below:

1. 3DS: 70,159 (Last week: 58,837)
2. PS3: 39,452 (36,061)
3. PSP: 28,533 (25,122)
4. Wii: 14,034 (15,406)
5. Xbox 360: 3897 (1295)
6. DSi XL: 2991 (2869)
7. DSi: 2351 (2234)
8. PS2: 1517 (1317)
9. DS Lite: 86 (78)
10. PSP go: 15 (7)