Gamasutra's weekly "Saling The World" column covers the 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 October 30th, 2008, find
Fallout 3 and
LittleBigPlanet leading sales among this week's debuting console titles 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. Guitar Hero: World Tour Full Band Kit (Activision), 4. Wii Music (Nintendo), 5. Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 (Majesco).
Japan: 1. Shape Boxing: Wii de Enjoy Diet! (Rocket Company), 2. Wii Music (Nintendo), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Bokujou Monogatari: Waku Waku Animal March (Marvelous), 5. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
UK: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Carnival: Fun Fair Games (2K Games), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. FIFA 09 All-Play (EA Sports).
After topping regional sales in its debut week,
Wii Music drops to fourth place in its second week of North American release.
Guitar Hero: World Tour surpasses Nintendo's music simulation title in popularity, finishing third in this week's results, while
Wii Fit and
Mario Kart Wii retake the top two chart positions.
Rocket Company's debuting exercise title
Shape Boxing: Wii de Enjoy Diet! trumps
Wii Music's sales performance in Japan, meanwhile, as
Wii Play and
Wii Fit remain top sellers in the UK.
Xbox 360
North America: 1. Infinite Undiscovery (Square Enix), 2. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 3. Fable II (Microsoft), 4. Fable II: Limited Collector's Edition (Microsoft), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft).
Japan: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom), 2. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 3. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Ubisoft), 4. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 5. The
[email protected] -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco).
UK: 1. Fable II (Microsoft), 2. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 3. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft).
Though
Fallout 3 places high in Xbox 360 software sales in its first week of release, Square Enix's
Infinite Undiscovery leads this week's overall results, thanks to a recent drop in price at Amazon.
Fable II also continues to see strong sales, while a discounted
Halo 3 ranks fifth.
The just-released Japanese version of
Grand Theft Auto IV surpasses the multi-week chart leader
Tales of Vesperia as this week's biggest 360 seller in Japan, as
FIFA 09 and
Fable II lead in Europe.
PlayStation 3
North America: 1. Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (SCEA), 2. LittleBigPlanet (SCEA), 3. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 4. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 5. Soulcalibur IV (Namco Bandai).
Japan: 1. LittleBigPlanet (SCEI), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom), 3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Special Edition (Konami), 4. SOCOM: Confrontation (SCEI), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Bethesda).
UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 5. Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft).
A discounted
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds heads this week's North American PS3 sales results at Amazon, and recent drops in price bring
Lego Indiana Jones and
Soulcalibur IV back into the regional top five as well.
LittleBigPlanet boasts the biggest sales numbers of any debuting PS3 title this week, with
Fallout 3 trailing close behind.
LittleBigPlanet also finds brisk initial sales in Japan, narrowly edging out the debuting
Grand Theft Auto IV as the region's top PS3 title for the week.
SOCOM: Confrontation makes a strong impression in its Japanese debut week as well, while UK sales continue to be headed by EA's and Konami's competing soccer sims.
PlayStation 2
North America: 1. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 2. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Activision), 3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 4. God of War II (SCEA), 5. The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga (SNK Playmore).
Japan: 1. Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou -- Plus (Atlus), 2. Thunder Force VI (Sega), 3. Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou (Atlus), 4. Hokuouki (Idea Factory), 5. Super Robot Taisen Z (Banpresto).
UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 3. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 4. Quantum of Solace (Activision), 5. Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots (THQ).
The standalone version of
Guitar Hero: World Tour stands out as this week's top debuting title on the PlayStation 2, though
Lego Batman still leads overall U.S. sales for the week.
The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga also makes a strong sales impression in its premiere week, while
Madden NFL 09 and
God of War II chart at third and fourth place.
Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou leads Japanese PS2 software sales for the second week in a row, while Sega's shooter sequel
Thunder Force VI debuts this week as second place.
PC
North America: 1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 2. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA Games), 3. Fallout 3 Collector's Edition (Bethesda), 4. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (Her Interactive), 5. Spore (EA Games).
Japan: 1. Chaos;Head (Nitro Plus), 2. Clannad: Full Voice (Key), 3. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 4. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Bandai Namco), 5. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 3.0 Premium (E Frontier).
UK: 1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 2. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA Games), 3. Fallout 3 Collector's Edition (Bethesda), 4. Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft), 5. Spore (EA Games).
Last week's PC chart champion
Far Cry 2 is nowhere to be found among this week's top five PC sellers in North America. The title is pushed out of top five territory by the combined sales strength of the recent debuts
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and
Fallout 3, the latter of which places twice in this week's results thanks to the popularity of both its regular and collector's editions.
Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy maintains consistently strong weekly sales, meanwhile, as
Spore drops to fifth place.
Nintendo DS
North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 5. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo).
Japan: 1. Vitamin Y (D3 Publisher), 2. Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo), 3. Pocket Monsters Platinum (Nintendo), 4. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo), 5. Korg DS-10 (AQ Interactive).
UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 4. Imagine: Teacher (Ubisoft), 5. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia's reign atop the United States' DS chart was short-lived, as the title has since been replaced by the familiar likes of
New Super Mario Bros. and
Mario Kart DS. Nintendo's
Brain Age series returns to the top five after a rare chart absence last week, while
Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir falls to fifth place following an impressive showing last week.
D3's adventure title
Vitamin Y debuts to lead this week's DS chart in Japan, pushing Nintendo's
Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode to second place.
Pocket Monsters Platinum and
Rhythm Tengoku Gold chart in at third and fourth place, as
Korg DS-10 returns at fifth.
PlayStation Portable
North America: 1. Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (SCEA), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 4. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 5. Star Ocean: First Departure (Square Enix).
Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 2. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 (SCEI), 3. Macross Ace Frontier (Bandai), 4. Rockman Rockman -- Best Price! (Capcom), 5. Maplus Portable Navi 2 (Edia).
UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 3. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE), 4. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision), 5. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts).
A discounted
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow returns to lead Amazon's PSP charts in North America. Last week's PSP sales leader
Star Ocean: First Departure drops to fifth place in this week's results, meanwhile, as
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed recovers to take second after a weak finish last week.
A budget-priced re-release of
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G takes top honors in Japan this week. The title's chart longevity is noteworthy, as the full-priced version of
Portable 2nd G remained in the regional top five for months after its release, and even placed fifth in last week's results. Given its long-running popularity, the re-released edition seems likely to lead PSP sales in Japan for many weeks to come.
