Pokemon Stomps U.S. Charts, FFXII Spinoff Rules Japan

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers 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 April 26th, 2007, feature several spikes of activity worldwide accompanying the release of awaited titles like Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. 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. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 5. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo), 2. Wii de Yawaraka Atama Juku (Nintendo), 3. One Piece Unlimited Adventure (Bandai), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo). UK: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 5. Excite Truck (Nintendo). The just-released Wii de Yawaraka Atama Juku (Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree) and One Piece Unlimited Adventure see big sales in their debut week, but no game can yet top the popularity of Super Paper Mario, which continues to be the Wii's biggest seller in the U.S. and Japan. In Europe, however, the lack of even an official release date for Super Paper Mario ensures that older titles like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wii Play still lead the charts. Given the title's popularity in other regions, a European release is an eventuality, though it's unknown at this point when exactly this will happen. Xbox 360 North America: 1. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 3. Gears of War (Microsoft), 4. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games). Japan: 1. Test Drive Unlimited (Microsoft), 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 3. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 4. Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 (Square Enix), 5. Call of Duty 3 (Spike). UK: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Crackdown (Microsoft), 3. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games), 5. Prey (2K Games). The sold-out Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II continues to feel the effects of aftermarket inflation, with Amazon-affiliated sellers setting a minimum price of $126.99 for the bundle, minus shipping costs. Meanwhile, a discounted FIFA 07 takes this week's top sales spot, thanks to the title being featured as a "Deal of the Day" item at Amazon. Meanwhile, Test Drive Unlimited and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas prove to be sales hits in their first week of release in Japan, though it remains to be seen whether either title's popularity can be maintained in the weeks to come. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. F.E.A.R. (Sierra), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 3. MotorStorm (SCEA), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda), 5. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games). Japan: 1. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 4 (Konami), 2. Gundam Musou (Bandai), 3. Power Smash 3 (Sega), 4. Winning Post 7: Maximum 2007 (Koei), 5. Resistance: Jinrui Botsuraku no Hi (SCEI). UK: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with Free HDMI Cable (Ubisoft), 2. MotorStorm (SCEE), 3. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 4. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 5. F.E.A.R. (Sierra). F.E.A.R. takes first place in weekly PS3 software sales in the United States, following a strong debut that mirrored the success the title found in the UK in the week prior. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion also debuts high in Europe this week, thanks in part to an Amazon-exclusive bundle package that includes a free HDMI cable. Japan, on the other hand, sees its biggest sales in Pro Yakyuu Spirits 4, which once again rises back to the top of the region's PS3 chart after a brief sales slowdown in the week prior. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 2. God of War II (SCEA), 3. God of War (SCEA), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Shadow of the Colossus (SCEA). Japan: 1. Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] Extra Edition (Kadokawa Shoten), 2. Persona 3: Fes -- Append Disc Version (Atlus), 3. Persona 3: Fes (Atlus), 4. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica (Prototype), 5. Negima!? Dream Tactic Yumemiru Otome Princess -- Maihime Edition (Konami). UK: 1. God of War II (SCEE), 2. SingStar: Pop Hits (SCEE), 3. Buzz! The Mega Quiz (SCEE), 4. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 5. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts). Little has changed in this week's PS2 charts in the U.S. and Japan. Fate/Stay Night and Persona 3 continue to rule the charts in Japan despite strong sales efforts from newcomers Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica and Negima!? Dream Tactic Yumemiru Otome Princess -- Maihime Edition, while PS2 owners in the U.S. continue to show strong demand for God of War II and Guitar Hero II. God of War II also finds itself at the top of Europe's PS2 chart this week, only a few short days after its release there. PC North America: 1. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar (Midway), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar -- Special Edition (Midway). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 (Square Enix), 2. Princess Nightmare (Karin Entertainment), 3. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica -- 1 & 2 Box Edition (Ocelot), 4. Hoshi no Oujo (Mirai), 5. Medieval II: Total War (Sega). UK: 1. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar (Codemasters), 2. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (EA Games), 3. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars -- Kane Edition (EA Games). The recently released The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar and World of Warcraft compete fiercely in this week's charts, thanks to a recent Amazon sale that featured World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade bundled together at a significant discount. In the end, though, Shadows of Angmar wins in overall weekly sales in both the U.S. and Europe. The title will likely be just as strong a sales competitor in the weeks to come. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (Square Enix), 2. TOEIC Test DS Training (IE Institute), 3. Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan (Hudson), 4. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 5. Panel de Pon DS (Nintendo). UK: 1. Cooking Mama (505 GameStreet), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. Pokemon Ranger (Nintendo), 4. Nintendogs: Lab & Friends (Nintendo), 5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo). The Nintendo DS plays host to several extremely popular new releases this week. Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl rank as the week's two best-selling titles across all platforms in the United States, while Japan's top cross-platform sellers are Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, TOEIC Test DS Training, and Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan. Both Pokemon titles in particular have a lot of potential staying power in sales, and could remain at the top of the charts for some time. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Daxter (SCEA), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 4. Killzone: Liberation (SCEA), 5. MLB 07: The Show (SCEA). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 2. Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition (Square Enix), 3. Minna no Chizu 2 Bundle with GPS Receiver (Zenrin), 4. TalkMan Shiki: Shabe Lingual Eikaiwa Bundle with Microphone (SCEI), 5. Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable (Bandai). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 3. Mind Quiz (Ubisoft), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega). Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition's stay at the top of the PSP sales chart in Japan was short-lived, as Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd has once again taken the top spot after slipping to second place for the first time since its release last week. Japan also shows a significant amount of interest in non-game PSP products this week, with the success of GPS navigation software Minna no Chizu 2 and language translator and phrasebook TalkMan Shiki demonstrating that many PSP owners are using the device for purposes that extend beyond the scope of gaming.