Cars Sticks Atop Sluggish UK Game Chart

The top three games in the UK game sales chart (THQ's Cars, followed by Rockstar's GTA: Liberty City Stories and Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros) have remained exactly the same for the second week running, with only a single new release in the whole top forty. Such situations are not uncommon in the British games market, though, which suffers more than many regions from an annual “games drought” – generally between June and August each year. The only significant change in the top ten is the re-appearance of Need for Speed: Most Wanted at number eight, following widespread retail promotions. Mass discounting of older titles is the usual retailer response to the games drought, with a number of older titles, notably the original version of The Sims, proving to be strong sellers long after their initial release. Predictably, the only genuine new entry in the top forty is a movie license, in this case THQ’s Monster House at number eighteen – which is likely to move further up the chart in the wake of the film’s opening.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2006 ELSPA Ltd