Saling The World: RE4 Wii Heads U.S., Japan Takes On Itadaki Street DS

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 June 22nd, 2007, include remarkable debut sales numbers for Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition in the United States and Itadaki Street DS 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. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 2. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 5. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Hajime no Ippo Revolution (AQ Interactive), 3. BioHazard 4 Wii Edition (Capcom), 4. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 5. Wii de Yawaraka Atama Juku (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 3. Mario Strikers Charged Football (Nintendo), 4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 5. The Godfather: Blackhand Edition (EA Games). The budget-priced and critically praised Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition debuts to take first place in weekly software sales across all platforms in the United States this week. This coincides with the Japanese equivalent, BioHazard 4, falling a few places on its respective chart in the wake of the release of Hajime no Ippo Revolution, while Wii Sports leads overall. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, meanwhile, finishes just outside the U.S. top five this week, following an unexpectedly weak debut in the week prior. Whether the title will return to the charts in future weeks remains to be seen. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 2. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft), 3. Gears of War (Microsoft), 4. DiRT (Codemasters), 5. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Tecmo). Japan: 1. Saints Row (THQ Japan), 2. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 3. Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Microsoft), 4. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 5. Shadowrun (Microsoft). UK: 1. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft), 2. Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters), 3. Forza Motorsport 2 -- Limited Edition (Microsoft), 4. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft), 5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft). Though Forza Motorsport 2 is still the racer of choice for Xbox 360 owners worldwide, the just-released DiRT makes significant headway in its first week on the U.S. charts, finishing just behind Gears of War in sales. Meanwhile, the nearly year-old Saints Row sees impressive sales in its first week of release in Japan, and manages to top the region's chart after receiving a warm critical welcome in Famitsu. Trusty Bell also makes another strong showing this week, while Dead Rising proves to be the only recent Platinum Collection title with staying power after last week's chart-flooding torrent of re-releases. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 2. MotorStorm (SCEA), 3. MLB 07: The Show (SCEA), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda), 5. Call of Duty 3 (Activision). Japan: 1. FolksSoul: Ushinawareta Denshou (SCEI), 2. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 3. Call of Duty 3 (Spike), 4. MotorStorm (SCEI), 5. Power Smash 3 (Sega). UK: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 2. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Ubisoft), 4. MotorStorm (SCEE), 5. Armored Core 4 (505 Games). FolksSoul: Ushinawareta Denshou is off to an encouraging sales start in Japan, debuting to take a first-place finish away from Ninja Gaiden Sigma, which barely misses the top spot for the second week since its release. This week also marks a sharp increase in pre-order sales for Ninja Gaiden Sigma in the United States, though Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas and The Darkness have also attracted a fair amount of pre-release attention in recent days. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 2. Odin Sphere (Atlus), 3. God of War (SCEA), 4. Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Activision), 5. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos). Japan: 1. Growlanser VI: Precarious World (Atlus), 2. Mana-Khemia: Gakuen no Renkinjutsu Shitachi (Gust), 3. Hisshou Pachinko*Pachi-Slot Kouryoku Series Vol. 10 (D3 Publisher), 4. Mana-Khemia: Gakuen no Renkinjutsu Shitachi -- Premium Box (Gust), 5. Ore no Shite Agake (D3 Publisher). UK: 1. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos), 2. SingStar Pop Hits (SCEE), 3. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 4. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 (THQ), 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney). Odin Sphere attains second place in PS2 software sales this week, as niche-minded gamers can't seem to get enough of Atlus's hybrid RPG-brawler more than a month after its initial release. Atlus also sees another hit this week in the just-debuted Growlanser VI in Japan. Tomb Raider: Anniversary, conversely, falls to the bottom of the top five in the United States this week, though its performance in Europe continues to be as healthy as ever. PC North America: 1. Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek (Atari), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2 (EA Games). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier (Capcom), 2. The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff (EA Games), 3. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica 3 & 4 (Ocelot), 4. Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ (QuinRose), 5. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games). UK: 1. The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff (EA Games), 2. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos), 3. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. World of Warcraft (Blizzard). Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek tops the United States' PC software sales chart for the second week in a row since its release, and may have the staying power to top sales once again next week. Chart mainstays like The Burning Crusade and The Sims 2 could soon be back in the running for a first-place finish in future weeks, however. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Itadaki Street DS (Square Enix), 2. Miru Chikara o Jissen de Kitaeru: DS Ganryoku Training (Nintendo), 3. huugaku Eitango Target 1800 DS (IE Institute), 4. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 5. TOEIC Test DS Training (IE Institute). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Nintendogs: Lab & Friends (Nintendo), 3. Cooking Mama (505 Games), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo). The Dragon Quest/Super Mario Bros. franchise crossover board game Itadaki Street DS faces little trouble in becoming the week's single best-selling software title for any platform in Japan. Itadaki Street DS is likely to be toppled in the next few days, however, as Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei will almost certainly rule the DS charts for the week following its release on June 26th. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Daxter (SCEA), 4. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo (SCEA), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou (Square Enix), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 3. Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition (Square Enix), 4. Maplus: Portable Navi (Edia), 5. Princess Crown -- Atlus Best Collection (Atlus). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEE), 4. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 5. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega). Though early critical opinion is mixed, the upcoming Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition leads PSP preorder sales by a wide margin in the week prior to its U.S. release. Interest is strong enough to drive prerelease sales high enough to rival Star Wars Battlefront II's sales for the week, and will likely lead to a first-place sales finish for Anniversary Edition following its debut next week.