Saling The World: Metal Gear Solid 4, Mario Kart Wii Top U.S. Charts

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five real-time Amazon.com 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 June 19th, 2008, find Mario Kart Wii competing head-to-head with Metal Gear Solid 4 in North American multiplatform sales, while Spore Creature Creator leads the PC charts in its first week of release. 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. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Wii Play (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball (Nintendo), 4. Family Trainer (Bandai), 5. Wii Sports (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle. As Mario Kart Wii shortages continue in North America, Amazon has since reopened orders for an upcoming supply shipment. The title finishes as this week's top seller across all platforms as a result, despite Amazon's notice that ordered copies will not ship until July 15th. Super Smash Bros. Brawl enjoys another strong week in the U.S., meanwhile, as the aftermarket reseller favorite Wii Fit takes third place in regional sales results. In Japan, Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball debuts just behind Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit in weekly sales numbers, while Wii Play and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games take chart control away from previous sales leader Lego Indiana Jones in Europe. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Ninja Gaiden II (Tecmo), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Call of Duty 3 -- Platinum Hits (Activision), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. The Darkness (Spike), 2. Ninja Gaiden II (Tecmo), 3. The Orange Box (EA Games), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. The Idolm@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2K Games), 5. Rock Band (EA Games). Preorder numbers for the soon-to-be-released Battlefield: Bad Company and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith see a significant jump this week at Amazon, rivaling the weekly sales numbers of current chart toppers Grand Theft Auto IV and Ninja Gaiden II. Call of Duty 3 also makes a surprise return to the top five this week thanks to a recent sale price, while Halo 3 rounds out the list at fifth place. Elsewhere, Japan finds a discounted The Darkness topping Ninja Gaiden II in this week's results, as Grand Theft Auto IV maintains its lead in Europe. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEA), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. GRID (Codemasters). Japan: 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Special Edition (Konami), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 3. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Bandai), 4. Senjou no Valkyria (Sega), 5. Haze (Spike). UK: 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2K Games), 5. Top Spin 3 (2K Sports). Metal Gear Solid 4 takes top honors in worldwide PlayStation 3 software sales for the second week in a row. The title once again finishes first in cross-platform sales in Europe and Japan, and is barely edged out by Mario Kart Wii as this week's biggest seller in the United States. Competition for remaining chart spots ends with Grand Theft Auto IV trailing just behind MGS4 in the United States and Europe. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit again surpasses Senjou no Valkyria in Japan this week, while Haze returns to take fifth. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 2. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 3. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (Atlus), 4. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). Japan: 1. Harukanaru Jikuu no Kade 4 (Koei), 2. Harukanaru Jikuu no Kade 4 -- Treasure Box (Koei), 3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater -- PlayStation 2 the Best (Konami), 4. Sorayume (Takuyo), 5. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty -- PlayStation 2 the Best (Konami). UK: 1. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 4. SingStar Summer Party (SCEE), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). After finding strong initial sales in the United States, Lego Indiana Jones slips out of chart range on multiple platforms this week. The PlayStation 2 edition of Lego Indiana Jones remains a popular seller, however, and is only bested by a discounted Rock Band Special Edition as this week's biggest-selling PS2 title. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES makes a return to the top five following a small drop in price, while Amazon reports that its recent sale price for Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection has since resulted in the complete sell-through of its available stock. PC North America: 1. Spore Creature Creator (EA Games), 2. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (Eidos), 3. The Orange Box (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 5. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Ragnarok Online Summer Package 2008 (E-Frontier), 2. Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 3. SimCity 4 Deluxe (EA Games), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Clannad: Full Voice (Key). UK: 1. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 2. Mass Effect (EA Games), 3. Sid Meier's Civilization IV Complete (2K Games), 4. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (Eidos), 5. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock). The Spore prerelease character building tool Spore Creature Creator unseats reigning PC sales champion Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures in this week's charts. Amazon indicates that the upcoming full version of Spore sees boosted presale numbers as a result, placing it far ahead of anticipated future releases like Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in weekly preorders. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Taisen - Kimi Arugatame -- All-Star Pack (Sega), 2. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo), 3. Nanatsuiro * Drops: Touch de Hajimaru Hatsukoi Monogatari -- Limited Edition (Media Works), 4. Kuukan * Zukei: Hirameki Training - KuuTore (Benesse), 5. Motto Toeic Test DS Training (IE Institute). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Scrabble Interactive: 2007 Edition (Ubisoft), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). A reshuffling of chart positions places New Super Mario Bros. at the top of this week's North American Nintendo DS sales results, followed by both Brain Age releases. Lego Indiana Jones drops to fourth place, while Mario Kart DS finishes at fifth. Elsewhere in the world, Japan finds the discounted All-Star Pack version of Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Taisen - Kimi Arugatame leading over DS Bimoji Training, as Lego Indiana Jones falls out of Europe's top five in favor of Brain Training and its sequel. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 5. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Super Robot Taisen A (Banpresto), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 3. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable 3 (Konami), 4. Clannad (Prototype), 5. Yggdra Union (Sting). UK: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII -- Special Edition (Square Enix), 2. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 4. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami). Last week's chart-topping Lego Indiana Jones slips to the bottom of this week's North American PSP chart, leaving Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII to reclaim a first-place sales finish. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops recovers after a brief absence and takes second in this week's results, as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and God of War: Chains of Olympus finish at third and fourth. The debuting Super Robot Taisen A tops long-time chart champion Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G in Japan, meanwhile, as the just-released Special Edition of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII leads PSP sales in Europe.