Saling The World: Crisis Core, C&C3 Top U.S. Charts

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from March 27th, 2008, see Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII debuting to fast sales in North America, while Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and Code Geass see a successful first week in Japan. Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy of the public sales information on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded. This results in a true sense of what games are selling worldwide on the real-time updated service, as follows: Nintendo Wii North America: 1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 5. Carnival Games (Global Star). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo), 3. Deca Sporta (Hudson), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Family Ski (Namco). UK: 1. Carnival Funfair Games (2K Games), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo). Super Smash Bros. Brawl returns as this week's multiplatform top seller in North America. Amazon also reports rapidly increasing presales for the upcoming Mario Kart Wii, which will debut in the U.S. in late April. It remains to be seen whether demand for Super Smash Bros. Brawl will hold out until then, as both titles will compete fiercely in weekly sales results upon Mario Kart Wii's release. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. Army of Two (EA Games). Japan: 1. Dark Sector (D3 Publisher), 2. The Idolm@ster: Live for You! (Namco), 3. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software), 4. Raiden Fighters Aces (Success), 5. Skate (EA Games). UK: 1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). As is the case with Mario Kart Wii, preorders for the late April release of Grand Theft Auto IV surge this week at Amazon. Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of GTA IV see impressive presale numbers in this week's results, though the 360 edition has a slight edge. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 continues to lead in sales among all currently available Xbox 360 software in the U.S. and the UK, meanwhile, as the Special Edition of Rock Band climbs back up to second place in North America after a price drop at Amazon. In Japan, the just-released Dark Sector claims a first-place sales finish, but fails to chart in any other region. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 3. DiRT (Codemasters), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. MLB 08: The Show (SCEA). Japan: 1. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software), 2. Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (Sega), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Activision). UK: 1. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEE), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 4. Everybody's Golf World Tour (SCEE), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). A discounted DiRT makes headway in North America's PlayStation 3 chart this week, while Call of Duty 4 once again tops overall sales. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 sees a sharp fall in popularity after a second-place chart debut last week, however, possibly in response to the discovery of several bugs in the PlayStation 3 version's online multiplayer component. In Europe, Sony's Gran Turismo 5 Prologue leads multiplatform sales in its first week of release, and has resulted in boosted hardware sales as well thanks to a new Prologue-bundled PlayStation 3 console package released earlier in the week. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami), 2. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 (Namco Bandai), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Final Fantasy X (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors (Bandai), 2. Elminage: Yami no Fujo to Kamigami no Yubiwa (Starfish SD), 3. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus -- Append Edition (Arc System Works), 4. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi -- Limited Edition (Banpresto), 5. Lucky * Star -- DX Pack (Kadokawa Shoten). UK: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEE), 4. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 5. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ). Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 makes an impressive showing in its first week of American release, but comes up short against Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection, which finishes at the top of the region's chart for the second week in a row. Final Fantasy X makes a surprise return to the top five at fifth place, meanwhile, with Final Fantasy X-2 trailing close behind. Elsewhere, Japanese sales are headed by the recently released Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors and Elminage: Yami no Fujo to Kamigami no Yubiwa, while Guitar Hero III holds on to its lead in Europe. PC North America: 1. Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (EA Games), 2. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock), 3. Tabula Rasa (NC Soft), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. The Sims 2: FreeTime (EA Games). Japan: 1. Clannad Full Voice (Key), 2. A Ressha de Ikou 8 (Artdink), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Daylight: Asa ni Hikari no Kanmuri wo (Senz), 5. The Sims 2: FreeTime! Data Set (EA Games). UK: 1. Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (EA Games), 2. The Sims 2: FreeTime (EA Games), 3. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War -- Soulstorm (THQ), 4. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath debuts as this week's PC chart champion in the U.S. and the UK, ending a solid month of first-place finishes for The Sims 2: FreeTime in North America. Sins of a Solar Empire and a greatly discounted Tabula Rasa witness a sales comeback this week in the United States, leaving Call of Duty 4 and The Sims 2: FreeTime to settle at the bottom of the region's top five. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo), 2. SimCity DS 2 (EA Games), 3. Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage (Nintendo), 4. Lux-Pain (Marvelous), 5. Vitamin X Evolution (D3 Publisher). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. More Brain Training (Nintendo). New Super Mario Bros. and Professor Layton and the Curious Village wage a neck-and-neck battle in weekly North American Nintendo DS sales results, with Mario edging out a victory in the week following a first-place finish for Layton. Brain Age and its sequel hang on at third and fourth place, as preorder sales for the upcoming Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness increase rapidly in the weeks leading up to their release. Japan's charts find the new releases Lux-Pain and Vitamin X Evolution creeping up at fourth and fifth place. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Patapon (SCEA), 4. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 5. MLB 08: The Show (SCEA). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 2. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors (Bandai), 3. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 4. Tales of Rebirth (Namco), 5. Mugen Kairou (SCEI). UK: 1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 3. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 4. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 5. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision). Amazon charts impressive debut sales for the just-released Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, which places second to Super Smash Bros. Brawl in North American software sales across all platforms. Crisis Core pushes the PSP's previous multi-week sales champion God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA) to second place, with Patapon and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops trailing close behind. In Japan, Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G debuts to top sales this week, while Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors finds equal success on the PS2 and PSP.