This week's top rental charts from U.S. game rental company GameFly, representing the most requested games for the week ending July 23, highlight both to-be-released and already released games in a unique demand-specific chart.
It’s been some time since the chart has seen a Wii title on top, but this week GameFly subscribers voiced their enthusiasm for Nintendo’s upcoming
Mario Strikers Charged, pushing the Wii sports title to the top of the all platform chart. In addition to
Strikers, other top titles for the week included Codemasters' RPG
Overlord, which again ranked as the second most requested title for the week, followed by Take Two’s comic inspired shooter
Darkness.
What follows is a break down of the top titles requested by GameFly subscribers across each of the major platforms:
Xbox 360
1.
Overlord (Codemasters), 2.
Darkness (Take Two), 3.
Transformers (Activision), 4.
NCAA Football 08 (EA), 5.
All-Pro Football 2K8 (Take Two).
Overlord continued to be a popular choice among GameFly subscribers, ranking as the top requested Xbox 360 title for the week. Likewise,
Darkness also remained among the platforms top performers as well, as did Activision’s movie-inspired
Transformers. The chart also welcomed a pair of football title into the mix as well, signaling an early start to this fall’s sports lineup.
Nintendo Wii
1.
Mario Strikers Charged (Nintendo), 2.
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom), 3.
Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 4.
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo), 5.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA).
As mentioned, it was
Mario Strikers Charged that topped all other requests for the week, nudging Capcom’s Wii version of
Resident Evil 4 into second place on the console’s chart. Nintendo’s
Mario Party 8 and
Big Brain Academy also stayed fast on the Wii chart, while the adaptation of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix rounded out the chart’s top five.
PlayStation 3
1.
Lair (Sony), 2.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 3.
NCAA Football 08 (EA), 4.
Darkness (Take Two), 5.
NASCAR 08 (EA).
This week dragons trumped ninjas, as Tecmo’s
Ninja Gaiden Sigma took the second place spot on the PS3 chart below Sony’s upcoming dragon action title
Lair.
Darkness also stayed strong for the week, while EA’s
NCAA Football 08 and
NASCAR 08 filled out the console’s chart as well.
PlayStation 2
1.
Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 2.
Transformers (Activision), 3.
NCAA Football 08 (EA), 4.
God of War II (Sony), 5.
NASCAR 08 (EA).
Leading to this week’s release of
Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, the rhythm action game rocked its way to the top of the PS2 request chart, beating long time favorites
Transformers and
God of War II. As with the PS3, EA’s
NCAA Football 08 and
NASCAR 08 filled out the chart as well.
Xbox
1.
NCAA Football 08 (EA), 2.
Halo 2 (Microsoft), 3.
Madden NFL 08 (EA), 4.
Ninja Gaiden Black (Tecmo), 5.
Knights of the Old Republic II (LucasArts).
Interestingly, it was EA’s
NCAA Football 08 and not
Halo 2 that was found on top of the original Xbox chart this week, with Microsoft’s shooter having to settle for second place. EA’s upcoming
Madden NFL 08, the latest in the company’s long running pro football franchise, ranked third, echoing player demand for the annual sequel.
GameCube
1.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 2.
Ratatouille (THQ), 3.
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (Nintendo), 4.
Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo), 5.
Mario Kart: Double Dash (Nintendo).
Unsurprisingly,
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess remained the top requested GameCube title for the week, with its closet competition coming from THQ's move adaptation of
Ratatouille, based on the recent Disney/Pixar feature film of the same name. The only measurable change for the week saw
Super Smash Bros. Melee entering the top five in the fourth position, perhaps due to the sequel’s upcoming winter release for the Wii.
Nintendo DS
1.
Picross (Nintendo), 2.
Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 3.
Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 4.
Deal or No Deal (DSI Games), 5.
Transformers: Autobots (Activision).
Nintendo’s DS puzzle game
Picross took the top spot on the handheld’s chart this week, followed by DS mainstays
Pokemon Pearl and
Pokemon Diamond, which have remained among the DS chart’s top performers ever since their debut in April.
Game Boy Advance
1.
Pokemon: Emerald (Nintendo), 2.
Pokemon:Fire Red (Nintendo), 3.
Pokemon: Leaf Green (Nintendo), 4.
Pokemon: Ruby (Nintendo), 5.
Pokemon: Sapphire (Nintendo).
GameFly subscribers love their Pokemon, and once again titles from Nintendo’s popular monster collecting series dominated the Game Boy Advance chart, with
Pokemon: Emerald again ranking as the top requested title for the handheld this week.
PlayStation Portable
1.
Final Fantasy II (Square Enix), 2.
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (Atari), 3.
Transformers (Activision), 4.
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (Namco), 5.
Final Fantasy (Square Enix).
While Square Enix's recent RPG remake
Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition, which at one time ranked as the top PSP request for multiple weeks in a row, fell to claim just the fifth spot on the PSP chart for the week, the remake of
Final Fantasy II took the top spot among PSP requests.
