Puzzle Quest, C&C 3 Jump High In Amazon Charts

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 March 29th, 2007, feature an impressive debut week for Command & Conquer 3 and a surprisingly strong, word-of-mouth-fueled jump in sales for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. 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 Play (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 5. Cooking Mama (Majesco). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Mezase!! Tsuri Master (Hudson), 3. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 4. Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (Nintendo), 5. Zelda no Densetsu: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). UK: 1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Sega), 4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 5. Heatseeker (Codemasters). Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 once again leads the UK Wii charts this week, while the niche hit Cooking Mama: Cook Off continues to pull in impressive sales in its second week of release in the United States. In Japan, Hudson's fishing title Mezase!! Tsuri Master is also seeing an enthusiastic reception in the days following its release, ranking high among other top-selling Wii software. These results could soon change, however, as worldwide preorder numbers for the upcoming Super Paper Mario indicate a level of anticipation that is likely to propel the title into a top sales spot in all regions upon its release in early April. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 5. Crackdown (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Call of Duty 3 (Spike), 2. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Tecmo), 3. Armored Core 4 (From Software), 4. Absolute: Blazing Infinity (Idea Factory), 5. Gears of War (Microsoft). UK: 1. Crackdown (Microsoft), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 (Codemasters), 4. Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports), 5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft). In what is becoming a weekly tradition, Amazon's "Deal of the Day" specials once again play heavily into this week's Xbox 360 software sales results. Following a series of price reductions over the course of last week, Sega's Phantasy Star Universe eventually hit its lowest price point at $12.99 -- a bargain that many Xbox 360 owners found irresistible. The price has since been increased to $19.99, though sales continue to be strong, especially for a title long absent from the console's top five weekly sellers. Elsewhere in the world, Idea Factory's Absolute: Blazing Infinity debuts to fast sales in Japan, while Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 is the week's sports title of choice for Xbox 360 owners in the UK. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda), 2. MotorStorm (SCEA), 3. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 4. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega), 5. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEA). Japan: 1. Gundam Musou (Bandai), 2. Mist of Chaos (Idea Factory), 3. Armored Core 4 (From Software), 4. Power Smash 3 (Sega), 5. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco). UK: 1. MotorStorm (SCEE), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 3. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 5. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE). The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion finds itself at the top of many shoppers' wish lists this week, finding popularity both with PS3 owners unfamiliar with the game and with those who are interested in the PS3 port's new content. In Europe, last week's best-selling PS3 titles continue to perform just as well this week, while Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 joins the top five after a small jump in sales. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. God of War II (SCEA), 2. God of War (SCEA), 3. Guitar Hero II Bundle with Guitar (RedOctane), 4. MLB 07: The Show (SCEA), 5. Karaoke Revolution Party (Konami). Japan: 1. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ (Square Enix), 2. Musou Orochi (Koei), 3. VitaminX (D3 Publisher), 4. Kiniro no Corda 2 (Koei), 5. Hokuto no Ken (Sega). UK: 1. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 2. Medal of Honor: Vanguard (EA Games), 3. Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 (Codemasters), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 5. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts). Amazon reports PS2 software sales results that are very similar to last week's in the United States and Europe, while Japan continues to see weekly changes and shakeups in its chart. Both Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ and Koei's Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors crossover title Musou Orochi debut to first and second place finishes in weekly sales in Japan. The Arc System works-developed 2D fighter Hokuto no Ken also does well in its first week of release, as does D3's VitaminX. PC North America: 1. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (EA Games), 2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles (2K Games), 3. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars -- Kane Edition (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. Hoshi no Oujo (Mirai), 2. The Sims 2 Seasons! Data Set (EA Games), 3. Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ (QuinRose), 4. Megami Tensei Online: Imagine (Cave), 5. Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 (Square Enix). UK: 1. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (EA Games), 2. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars -- Kane Edition (EA Games), 3. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles (2K Games), 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard). Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars debuts strong in both the United States and Europe this week, with both the regular edition and the enhanced Kane Edition seeing big sales numbers in both regions. Interestingly, this marks the first week in the last several months in which neither World of Warcraft nor its popular expansion The Burning Crusade appear on Amazon's PC software sales chart in the United States. The Burning Crusade finishes in seventh place in U.S. sales this week, trailing close behind the FPS title S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (D3 Publisher), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 2. TOEIC Test DS Training (IE Institute), 3. Layton Kyouju no Fushigi na Machi (Level 5), 4. Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan DS (Namco), 5. Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 1st Love (Konami). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo). Though it was only a moderate success in its debut week, positive word-of-mouth buzz and enthusiastic recommendations from sites like Penny Arcade have driven D3 Publisher's Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords into the top sales spot in Nintendo DS software in its second week of release. Demand for the game has reached such a fevered pitch that the title has even managed to outpace established, first-party hits like New Super Mario Bros. and Brain Age in last week's recorded sales. Japan, on the other hand, sees its strongest sales in newcomer Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke, the newest sequel in Nintendo's popular English education series. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Mortal Kombat Unchained (Midway), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the warlords (D3 Publisher), 4. MLB 07: The Show (SCEA), 5. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEA). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 2. Maplus: Portable Navi (Edia), 3. Talkman Shiki: Shabe Lingual Eikaiwa (SCEI), 4. Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC (Falcom), 5. Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary (Sega). UK: 1. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Sonic Rivals (Sega), 4. Sid Meier's Pirates! (2K Games), 5. Football Manager 2007 (Sega). An Amazon "Deal of the Day" discount of 50% off of MSRP has cemented Mortal Kombat Unchained's place atop this week's U.S. PSP sales chart. Likewise, this week's surge in sales for Sonic Rivals and Football manager 2007 in Europe can be attributed to similar discounts as well. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords also makes an impressive showing in the United States, though at least for the time being, the DS port appears to be the more popular of the two versions by a wide margin.