Gamasutra's
weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five exclusively compiled real-time Amazon.com charts 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 26th, 2008, find
Guitar Hero: On Tour topping Nintendo DS sales in its first week of North American release, while Nintendo's own first party music game
Daigasso! Band Brothers DX leads portable sales 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. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 4. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 5. Wii Play (Nintendo).
Japan: 1. Tales of Symphonia: Ratatosk no Kishi (Namco), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. The World of Golden Eggs: Nori Nori Rhythm Kei (AQ Interactive), 5. Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball (Nintendo).
UK: 1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Big Beach Sports (THQ), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega).
Mario Kart Wii and
Wii Fit continue to be the biggest sellers for Nintendo's console in North America this week, despite long-standing supply shortages that have yet to be resolved. Amazon-affiliated third-party sellers currently demand a minimum charge of $60 for
Mario Kart Wii, while
Wii Fit ranges in excess of $170.
Also in high demand is this week's debuting Wii port of
Rock Band, which takes a fourth place weekly sales finish and pushes chart favorite
Guitar Hero III out of the regional top five. Japan finds a new sales leader in this week's release of
Tales of Symphonia: Ratatosk no Kishi, meanwhile, as the just-debuted European version of
Super Smash Bros. Brawl tops multiplatform sales in the UK.
Xbox 360
North America: 1. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Battlefield: Bad Company -- Gold Edition (EA Games), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft).
Japan: 1. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 2. Gundam: Operation Troy (Bandai), 3. Ninja Gaiden II (Tecmo), 4. The
[email protected] -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 5. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Bandai).
UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Rock Band (EA Games), 5. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2K Games).
Battlefield: Bad Company comes on strong in its first week of worldwide release, achieving a first place sales finish among currently available Xbox 360 software in North America and Japan.
Grand Theft Auto IV is pushed to second place in U.S. sales as a result, while popular recent releases like
Ninja Gaiden II and
Lego Indiana Jones are left without a spot in this week's North American top five.
Elsewhere in the world,
Gundam: Operation Troy makes a strong initial sales impression in its first week of Japanese release, as
GTAIV edges out
Bad Company in the UK.
PlayStation 3
North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEA), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 5. Battlefield: Bad Company -- Gold Edition (EA Games).
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. Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (Sega).
UK: 1. Battlefield: Bad Company -- Gold Edition (EA Games), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2K Games), 5. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEE).
Though
Battlefield: Bad Company was met with a warm sales reception on the Xbox 360 in its debut week in North America, the title's PlayStation 3 port sees a lukewarm response in comparison.
Metal Gear Solid 4 reigns as this week's U.S. sales leader, while
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue sees a sales boost resulting from an Amazon promotional gift card bundle.
UK results tell a different story, however, with
Bad Company leading over
Metal Gear Solid 4 in weekly sales numbers.
Metal Gear Solid 4 holds on to its lead in Japan, though, as
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit and
Senjou no Valkyria remain worthy sales competitors.
PlayStation 2
North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 2. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition Bundle (Konami), 5. Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party Bundle (SCEA).
Japan: 1. Hisshou Pachinko*Pachi-Slot Kouryaku Series DS Vol. 12: CR Shinseiki Evangelion - Shito, Futatabi (D3 Publisher), 2. The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match -- NeoGeo Ultimate Collection (SNK Playmore), 3. Harukanaru Jikuu no Kade 4 (Koei), 4. Sengoku Basara X (Capcom), 5. Aria the Origination: Aoi Wakusei no El Cielo -- Limited Edition (Alchemist).
UK: 1. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. The Golden Compass (Sega), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. SingStar Summer Party (SCEE).
Budget-minded gamers determine the PlayStation 2's sales winners in North America this week. A steeply discounted
Rock Band makes another first-place chart finish, while recently dropped prices for the peripheral-bundled editions of
Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition and
Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party place both titles among the week's top sellers.
Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection climbs in popularity in this week's results, meanwhile, as the compilation has recently become difficult to find at many retail outlets. Amazon's supply of the title has fluctuated throughout the week as a result, and prices at third-party sellers are on the rise.
PC
North America: 1. Spore Creature Creator (EA Games), 2. World of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard), 3. The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff (EA Games), 4. Dungeon Runners (NCsoft), 5. The Orange Box (EA Games).
Japan: 1. Hellgate: London (EA Games), 2. Lineage: The Cross Rancor (E-Frontier), 3. Ragnarok Online Summer Package 2008 (E-Frontier), 4. Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 5. The Sims 2: Ikea Home Pack (EA Games).
UK: 1. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 2. The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff (EA Games), 3. Mass Effect (EA Games), 4. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock), 5. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts).
Recent top seller
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures falls out of chart range in this week's North American PC sales results. In its place are Blizzard's collection
World of Warcraft Battle Chest and the recently released expansion pack
The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff. The just-released retail version of NCsoft's
Dungeon Runners also charts among this week's top U.S. sellers, while the debuting Japanese version of
Hellgate: London takes top honors overseas.
Nintendo DS
North America: 1. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Activision), 2. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (Square Enix), 3. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo).
Japan: 1. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (Nintendo), 2. Derby Stallion DS (Enterbrain), 3. Higurashi no Nakukoru ni Kizuna: Dai-Ichi-Kan - Tatari -- Limited Edition (Alchemist), 4. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo), 5. Ookami to Koushinryou: Boku to Horo no Ichinen -- Limited Edition (Media Works).
UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. My Health Coach (Ubisoft), 3. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. More Brain Training (Nintendo).
A pair of popular recent releases upset North America's usually predictable DS sales chart this week. Activision's peripheral-bundled DS port of
Guitar Hero tops sales for the portable in its first week of release, followed closely by Square Enix's
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance follow-up
Final Fantasy Tactics A2.
An equally disruptive chart shakeup hits Japan this week, with the long-time favorite
DS Bimoji Training finishing as the only carryover title from last week's results. Nintendo's
Daigasso! Band Brothers DX premieres as this week's best-selling Japanese title across all platforms, while
Higurashi no Nakukoru ni Kizuna: Dai-Ichi-Kan - Tatari and
Derby Stallion DS also debut to strong initial sales.
PlayStation Portable
North America: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEA), 5. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami).
Japan: 1. World Neverland 2-in-1 Portable (Fonfun), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 3. Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono (Acquire), 4. Super Robot Taisen A (Banpresto), 5. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable 3 (Konami).
UK: 1. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII -- Special Edition (Square Enix), 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 4. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami).
Lego Indiana Jones recovers from its drop to fifth place in last week's North American PSP sales chart, taking third in this week's results. The PSP version of
Lego Indiana Jones is the only port of the title to remain in any platform's U.S. top five after its recent debut, though multiple cross-platform editions remain popular in the UK.
Japan finds last week's sales leader
Super Robot Taisen A slipping to fourth place in this week's results, while recent releases
World Neverland 2-in-1 Portable and
Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono rank high in initial sales numbers.
