The well-designed levels in The Forgotten Sands do a good job of sucking you into this 2D world, but minor control issues and lame combat distract from the fun.

Score: 6.5 / fair

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Poor controls and a wonky camera strike out Little League World Series Baseball: Double Play.

Score: 5.0 / mediocre

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Nintendo's minigame collection continues rocking the Japanese sales charts weeks after release, PSP action-RPG enjoys strong debut.

Undaunted by curfews or residential noise ordinances, the Wii Party rages on. In its third week of release, Nintendo's latest minigame collection for the Wii once again topped the Media Create Japanese sales charts, selling nearly 99,000 copies from July 19 to July 25.

Later this year, US audiences will get the chance to party like it's $49.99.

The victory came despite a strong showing from a newly released contender. Marvelous Entertainment's latest installment in the Fate franchise, Fate/Extra for the PSP, came in second with a healthy 72,170 copies sold. Western audiences might know the anime/manga series best from the downloadable PSP fighter Fate/Unlimited, although this latest interpretation explores the source material as an action-role-playing game.

The only other new release for the week was Tomy's Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Flame Rumble XX - Kessen! Real 6 Chouka, which edged its way onto the chart in 10th place, with 19,540 sold. Other DS games in the top 10 included the latest Inazuma Eleven title (third place with 44,451 sold) and Nintendo's new Fire Emblem strategy RPG (fourth place with 39,459 sold).

The PSP took home the hardware crown for the week, selling 28,747 systems. In addition to the launch of Fate/Extra, continued sales of Konami's Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2010 and Capcom's Last Ranker helped move new sales of Sony's handheld. The DSi LL (DSi XL in the West) continued selling well despite the arrival of the 3DS on the horizon, notching another 24,189 sales for the week. The Wii and the PlayStation 3 continued to jostle for the title of top console, selling 21,092 and 19,420 systems, respectively. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 finished the console race in its usual distant third, selling 6,056 systems for the week.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF JULY 19-25, 2010

Software:

Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales

1. Wii Party / Nintendo / Wii / 98,564

2. Fate/Extra / Marvelous / PSP / 72,170

3. Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen!! Spark and Bomber/ Level Five / DS / 44,451

4. Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu / Nintendo / DS / 39,459

5. Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory / Square Enix / Wii / 35,795

6. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2010 / Konami / PSP / 29,184

7. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2010 / Konami / PS3 / 28,258

8. Super Mario Galaxy 2 / Nintendo / Wii / 21,313

9. Last Ranker / Capcom / PSP / 20,741

10. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Flame Rumble XX - Kessen! Real 6 Chouka / Tomy / DS / 19,540

Hardware:

PSP - 28,747

DSi LL - 24,189

Wii - 21,092

PS3 - 19,420

DSi - 18,202

Xbox 360 - 6,056

DS Lite - 5,059

PS2 - 1,475

PSP Go - 831

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