Saling The World: Valkyria Chronicles Tops Japan, Wii Fit 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 April 16th, 2009, find Valkyria Chronicles and the newly released Fantasy Golf: Pangya Portable heading multiplatform software sales in Japan, while Wii Fit and Pokemon Platinum lead the charts in North America. 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. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 3. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Oboro Muramasa (Marvelous), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Wii de Asobu: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo), 5. Shape Boxing de Wii Enjoy Diet! (Rocket Company). UK: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Ubisoft). As preorder numbers quickly swell for the upcoming Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit continues to lead in North American Wii software sales numbers. Mario Kart Wii and My Fitness Coach follow at second and third place, as Wii Play and Lego Star Wars again make top five finishes. Oboro Muramasa's reign in Japan was short-lived, meanwhile, as Wii Fit has since retaken the region's top spot. Wii Fit and Wii Play again lead in the UK, with My Fitness Coach taking third in regional results. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 2. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom), 3. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 4. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 5. Guitar Hero: Metallica (Activision). Japan: 1. The Godfather II (EA Games), 2. The Last Remnant (Square Enix), 3. 11eyes CrossOver -- Limited Edition (5pb), 4. Halo 3 -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Microsoft), 5. Battlefield: Bad Company -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (EA Games). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision), 3. Fable II (Microsoft), 4. The Godfather II (EA Games), 5. FIFA 09 (EA Sports). Halo 3 takes a surprise sales victory in North America this week, beating out Resident Evil 5 to take first place. Call of Duty: World at War and Gears of War 2 return after falling out of the top five last week, pushing Guitar Hero: Metallica to fifth place. Elsewhere, The Godfather II leads Japanese sales in its debut week, while Grand Theft Auto IV and Call of Duty 4 take top honors in the UK. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Killzone 2 (SCEA), 2. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom), 3. MLB 09: The Show (SCEA), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Valkyria Chronicles (Sega). Japan: 1. Senjou no Valkyria -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Sega), 2. BioHazard 5 (Capcom), 3. Demon's Souls (SCEI), 4. Musou Orochi Z (Koei), 5. Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Sega). UK: 1. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 4. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom), 5. Killzone 2 (SCEE). Last week's chart-topping MLB 09: The Show falls to third place in this week's PlayStation 3 software sales in the United States, as Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 claim the top two chart spots. Guitar Hero III and Valkyria Chronicles finish among the week's biggest sellers as well, thanks to recent drops in price for both titles at Amazon. Valkyria Chronicles also emerges as a winner this week in Japan, where it overtakes BioHazard 5 for a first-place finish. Demon's Souls follows closely at third, while Musou Orochi Z and Ryu ga Gotoku 3 close out the regional top five. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Samurai Shodown Anthology (SNK Playmore), 2. Guitar Hero: Metallica (Activision), 3. MLB 09: The Show (SCEA), 4. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Activision), 5. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games). Japan: 1. Amagami (Enterbrain), 2. Shinobido Imashime -- Spike the Best (Spike), 3. Wanda to Kyozou -- PlayStation 2 The Best (SCEI), 4. Okami -- PlayStation 2 The Best (Capcom), 5. Sengoku Basara 2 -- Best Price! (Capcom). UK: 1. SingStar: Queen (SCEE), 2. SingStar: ABBA (SCEE), 3. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Call of Duty: World at War -- Final Fronts (Activision). SNK's Samurai Shodown Anthology has now spent a full month at the top of Amazon's PlayStation 2 charts in North America, and shows no sign of giving up its chart position anytime soon. Guitar Hero: Metallica finishes at second place in its debut week, while a steeply discounted Guitar Hero: World Tour barely edges out the instrument-bundled edition of Rock Band to take fourth. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 2. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 3. World of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard), 4. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (THQ), 5. Demigod (Stardock). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 5.0 Premium Package (Capcom), 2. SimCity 4 Deluxe (EA Games), 3. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 4. The Last Remnant (Square Enix), 5. Fantasy Earth Zero: Armed Edition (Square Enix). UK: 1. Football Manager 2009 (Sega), 2. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (THQ), 3. Empire: Total War (Sega), 4. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (THQ), 5. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard). World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King returns to the top of Amazon's North American PC charts this week, as a price-dropped Left 4 Dead rises up to finish second. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor falls to fourth place in favor of renewed demand for the World of Warcraft Battle Chest, as Demigod finishes fifth in regional results. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo), 2. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Namco), 2. Rittai Picross (Nintendo), 3. Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo), 4. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Fate of Heat II - Unmei no Futari (Marvelous), 5. Gakken Hangul Sanmai DS (Gakken). UK: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar), 3. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 4. Puzzler Collection (Ubisoft), 5. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo). This week sees Pokemon Platinum again leading U.S. Nintendo DS sales, with Professor Layton trailing at a close second. New Super Mario Bros. overtakes Mario Kart DS, as Rhythm Heaven makes its first top-five finish since its release earlier this month. In Japan, Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 tops the regional DS chart for the third week running, as Rittai Picross and Mario & Luigi RPG 3 continue to see strong weekly sales numbers. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 4. MLB 09: The Show (SCEA), 5. Resistance: Retribution (SCEA). Japan: 1. Fantasy Golf: Pangya Portable (Takara Tomy), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 3. Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom), 4. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Bandai), 5. Makai Senki Disgaea 2 Portable (Nippon Ichi). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Resistance: Retribution (SCEE), 3. Ben 10: Alien Force (D3 Publisher), 4. Patapon 2 (SCEE), 5. God of War: Chains of Olympus -- Platinum Edition (SCEE). Recently discounted titles continue to rule Amazon's PSP charts in North America, with $20 versions of God of War: Chains of Olympus, Liberty City Stories, and Crisis Core leading over full-priced releases like MLB 09: The Show and Resistance: Retribution. Elsewhere, Fantasy Golf: Pangya Portable tops the Japanese charts, as FIFA 09 maintains its lead in the UK.