GameFly Rental Chart Highlights: Week Ending November 21

This week's GameFly video game rental charts for North America, specifically relating to games rented via the games-by-mail service for the week ending November 7th, show popularity over multiple game formats. The top three on the cross-platform rental chart is filled with games debuting this week, due to the huge influx of high-profile games being released this time of year. Wrestling fans have tagged WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 into the #1 spot on the cross-platform rental chart, while second place is the Xbox conversion of Valve's PC smash Half-Life 2. In third, a particularly momentous game shows up as the first Xbox 360 title to appear on the weekly rental charts: the console version of Call of Duty 2, not to be confused with The Big Red One appearing on other platforms. On the individual platform charts, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw is PS2-exclusive, and naturally duplicates its all-format #1 in a rematch on the PS2 charts. Dragon Quest VIII, the former Dragon Warrior series' first big beachhead at American retail in a number of years, levels up to #2, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted clocks in at #3. The shooter-happy Xbox audience has moved into City Zero for the week, crowning Half-Life 2 king of the Xbox rental charts. Star Wars Battlefront II has impressively held on to its #2 spot amidst all the chaos elsewhere -- perhaps due to a lack of action on the original Xbox front -- and Need for Speed: Most Wanted pulls up to #3. The real Xbox story is the first Xbox 360-specific charts: though the system only debuts today, several games have already hit retail in the past week or so, and GameFly's system allows users to keep games for as long as they want, so holders of Xbox 360 preorder tickets have been stocking up for the big day. The charge is led by Call of Duty 2, followed by Madden NFL 06 at #2 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted at #3. Nintendo's platforms have been nearly unaffected this week, with just one new face per system. On the GameCube, it's Shadow the Hedgehog at #2; the Sonic games have always done particularly well on GC, and it appears that Shadow is no exception. Mario Party 7 remains at #1, and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance drops to #3. On Game Boy Advance, Donkey Kong Country 3, the last in the trilogy of Rare's SNES remakes, debuts at #1 ahead of Pokémon Emerald at #2 (thereby scotching our prediction last week) and Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap at #3. Though our powers of clairvoyance failed on GBA predictions, we were right on target in seeing Mario Kart DS claim the #1 spot in its first week on the Nintendo DS charts. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow remains high at #2, and third place this week sees Trauma Center: Under the Knife back on top of Phoenix Wright. Surprisingly, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories took a hit this week, dropping down to #2 in the face of unexpected popularity for the #1 game, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo. Still in third place is Star Wars Battlefront II.