Supreme Commander, Crackdown Storm Real-Time 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 February 22nd, 2007, feature a surprise dethroning of reigning PC champ World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, while Crackdown sweeps Xbox 360 sales worldwide. 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. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Sega), 3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 5. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (Nintendo), 2. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 3. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 4. Naruto Shippuuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX (Takara Tomy), 5. Zelda no Densetsu: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). UK: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Excite Truck (Nintendo), 4. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 5. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft). According to Amazon, Wii Play remains the most popular software title across all platforms in the United States, though like last week, no copies are available for purchase from Amazon itself. At an encouraging first glance, aftermarket prices appear to have dropped from last week. Upon closer inspection, however, many third-party sellers are instead listing copies of Wii Play that are missing the bundled Wii Remote accessory as new, and are setting prices for these incomplete versions that are deceptively close to MSRP. Prospective buyers are advised to read all item descriptions from third-party sellers carefully, to avoid being swindled. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Crackdown (Microsoft), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. Call of Duty 3 (Activision). Japan: 1. Riot Act (Microsoft), 2. The Idolm@ster (Namco), 3. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Nijuu Spy (Ubisoft), 4. Gears of War (Microsoft), 5. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Tecmo). UK: 1. Crackdown (Microsoft), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games). Crackdown (Riot Act in Japan) debuts strong in all regions this week, edging out longtime chart-toppers Gears of War, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, and The Idolm@ster in the process. The title's potential chart longevity is still a matter of debate, however. While Crackdown was received well by the gaming press, it remains to be seen whether consumers are more interested in the game itself or the invitation to the Halo 3 beta that comes packed in with every copy. For the time being, however, Crackdown is poised to stay at or near the top of the Xbox 360 software sales charts for the next several weeks. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 3. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 4. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games), 5. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega). Japan: 1. Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega), 2. Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (Spike), 3. Armored Core 4 (From Software), 4. MotorStorm (SCEI), 5. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco). Interest in the PlayStation 3 surges this week with the release of Virtua Fighter 5, which found little trouble in becoming the week's best-selling PS3 title in the United States. Japanese PS3 owners, on the other hand, continue to look forward to upcoming titles like Power Smash 3 (a.k.a. Virtua Tennis 3) and Gundam Musou, though sales for currently available games like Virtua Fighter 5 and the recently released Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom are still impressive nonetheless. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 2. God of War (SCEA), 3. Karaoke Revolution Party (Konami), 4. Guitar Hero (RedOctane), 5. Guitar Hero II (RedOctane). Japan: 1. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri (Alchemist), 2. Destroy All Humans! (Sega), 3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Capcom), 4. Lupin III: Lupin ni wa Shi o, Zenigata ni wa Koi o (Banpresto), 5. Okami (Capcom). UK: 1. Okami (Capcom), 2. EyeToy Play 3 (SCEE), 3. Canis Canem Edit (Rockstar), 4. Avatar: The Legend of Aang (THQ), 5. Buzz! The Big Quiz (SCEE). Final Fantasy XII reclaims the top PS2 sales spot in North America, after losing out to the likes of Guitar Hero II and Madden NFL 07 for several weeks prior. A brief price reduction to $19.99 earlier in the week likely spurred the bulk of Final Fantasy XII's weekly sales numbers, though this discount has jumped back up to near-retail price in the days since. On the Japanese front, meanwhile, newcomers Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri and Destroy All Humans! manage to displace former chart leader Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in their debut week. PC North America: 1. Supreme Commander (THQ), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 5. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Lineage II: Intrude Masters Kit (NC Japan), 2. Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ (QuinRose), 3. Princess Maker Memorial Box (Cyber Front), 4. Sukatto Golf Pangya - Marugoto Kit (Frontier Groove), 5. Princess Maker 5 (Cyber Front). UK: 1. ArmA: Armed Assault (505 Game Street), 2. Supreme Commander UEF Faction Pack (THQ), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 5. The Sims: Life Stories (EA Games). THQ's Supreme Commander leads weekly PC software sales in the United States and places second in Europe in its first week of release, beating out former chart leader World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in both regions in a surprise upset. The Burning Crusade also faces new competition from the Europe-exclusive FPS ArmA: Armed Assault, which heads the UK's PC chart. In the wake of this unexpected turn, it should be interesting to see if The Burning Crusade can reclaim the top spot in both regions in the coming weeks. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Brain Age (Nintendo), 2. Diddy Kong Racing DS (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Layton Kyouju no Fushigi na Machi (Level 5), 2. Wish Room: Tenshi no Kioku (Nintendo), 3. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Square Enix), 4. Sekaiju no Meikyuu (Atlus), 5. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke (Nintendo). 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. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo). Though this week's DS charts feature many of the usual suspects seen on a weekly basis, Amazon notes a recent increase in preorder numbers for the upcoming Pokemon Diamond Version and Pokemon Pearl Version in the United States, both of which are expected to meet or surpass the success they found in Japan late last year. Preorders for the Phoenix Wright series sequel Gyakuten Saiban 4 also prove to be very popular this week in Japan, while anticipation continues to build for Super Robot Taisen W. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEA), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 5. Daxter (SCEA). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 2. Metal Slug Complete (SNK Playmore), 3. Maplus: Portable Navi (Edia), 4. Tales of Destiny 2 (Namco), 5. Kanon (Prototype). UK: 1. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Mind Quiz (Ubisoft), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Medal of Honor: Heroes (EA Games). Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd leads sales across all platforms in Japan this week following a surprisingly strong debut. The recently released Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters also performs well in the U.S. this week, while the usual combination of Sega Mega Drive Collection and multiple Grand Theft Auto titles continues to rule the charts in the UK.