Despite the first game having proven only a minor hit in Europe, largely thanks to a very low key marketing campaign, the sequel to God of War has debuted at number one in the UK sales charts, beating out competition from Turbine’s new The Lord Of The Rings massively multiplayer online game. God of War II is Sony’s second number one of the year, after Resistance: Fall of Man in March. Published in the UK by Codemasters, The Lord of the Rings Online has become the second fastest selling online-only PC title ever in the UK, behind only World of WarCraft. Third place has gone to the multiformat release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, although its position is almost entirely to the new PlayStation 3 release, which accounts for 74 percent of all sales for the title this week. This is despite reports of a distribution argument with Ubisoft and leading specialist retailer GAME over the title. Stock availability of the Wii has remained high for the second week, with Wii Play falling only one spot to number four. Sega’s exclusive Sonic and the Secret Rings has re-entered at number thirty-one, while The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has also reappeared at number thirty-nine. A number of Nintendo DS titles have also continued to perform well, with Pokemon Ranger down only as far as number five and Brain Training (aka Brain Age still in the top ten almost a year after its initial release. After selling out in previous weeks, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 has also risen eleven places to number eleven, while Diddy Kong Racing DS has entered the chart for the first time at number thirteen. God of War II is not the only PlayStation 2 exclusive in the charts, with karaoke game SingStar Pop Hits debuting at number six, Sony’s fellow casual gamer friendly franchise Buzz! The Mega Quiz entering at number sixteen and Ubisoft’s Free Running, also available on PSP, at number thirty-three.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2007. ELSPA Ltd