Charts: Rune Factory 2 Leads Japan; Rock Band, GH3 Restock in U.S.

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 January 3rd, 2008, find Japanese sales unsurprisingly headed by Rune Factory 2, the region's only new release in the past week. 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. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 4. Wii Zapper with Link's Crossbow Training (Nintendo), 5. Carnival Games (2K Games). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 3. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 4. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 5. Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon: Toki Wasure No Meikyuu (Square Enix). UK: 1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo), 4. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts), 5. Winter Sports 2008 (Activision). As Wii Play continues to be the Wii's most popular post-holiday title, Guitar Hero III makes a reappearance in North America's top five, thanks to a resupply of stock at Amazon. The new supply drained quickly, however, and disappeared entirely during the time it took to collect this week's U.S. sales data. The Wii Zapper also finds its way back into the top five this week, though Amazon reports that new stock will not arrive until February. Though an attempt is being made to keep up with demand for these highly sought-after items, it seems that it may take many more weeks, if not months, for retailer supplies to fully satisfy consumer demand. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. The IdolM@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 3. FIFA 08 World Class Soccer (EA Sports), 4. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft), 5. Dead Rising / Gears of War -- Xbox 360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom / Microsoft). UK: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Amazon also appears to be making progress in satisfying demand for its most popular Xbox 360 titles, as both Rock Band Special Edition and Guitar Hero III have remained in stock long enough to place high in this week's sales results. The offline Live Arcade compilation Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged makes an unexpected chart showing this week as well, thanks to a recent discount that resulted in a spike in sales. In the UK, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and FIFA 08 top weekly sales, forcing former champion Call of Duty 4 into fourth place. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA), 4. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 5. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (SCEA). Japan: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei), 3. Uncharted: El Dorado no Hihou (SCEI), 4. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami), 5. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEI). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEE), 5. Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCEE). A drop in price at Amazon takes Assassin's Creed to the top of this week's North American PS3 sales chart, while last week's leader Time Crisis 4 falls out of the top five after returning to its original MSRP. Call of Duty 4 and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune remain steady sellers in all regions, meanwhile. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (Activision), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 5. SingStar Pop (SCEA). Japan: 1. Super Robot Taisen OG Gaiden (Bandai), 2. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami), 3. Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (Capcom), 4. Okami -- PlayStation 2 The Best (Capcom), 5. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 14 Ketteiban (Konami). UK: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (D3 Publisher), 4. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ), 5. EyeToy Play 3 with Camera (SCEE). The PlayStation 2 version of Rock Band makes its chart debut this week, despite the fact that the popular title was originally released in mid-December. Supplies have been scarce in the weeks since its release, and the restock that resulted in this week's top-five finish has already been completely exhausted. Japan, on the other hand, sees a new surge of popularity for Capcom titles like Sengoku Basara 2 and Okami, while the recently released Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 14 Ketteiban drops in at fifth place. PC North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. World of Warcraft Battlechest (Blizzard), 3. The Sims 2 Deluxe (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. World in Conflict (Sierra). Japan: 1. Fantasy Earth Zero: Armed Edition (Square Enix), 2. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 02: Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 3. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 02: Kagamine Rin/Len (Cripton Future Media), 4. RPG Tsukuru VX (Enterbrain), 5. Final Fantasy XI: Altana no Kamihei Kakuchou Data Disc (Square Enix). UK: 1. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 2. Crysis (EA Games), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. The Orange Box (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games). Post-holiday sale prices bring World in Conflict, The Sims 2 Deluxe, and the World of Warcraft Battlechest back into top-seller territory this week in North America. The World of Warcraft Battlechest has enjoyed particularly strong sales, pushing it in close proximity to the multi-week sales champion Call of Duty 4. A drop in price for Square Enix's Fantasy Earth Zero: Armed Edition leads to a shakeup in this week's Japanese results, meanwhile, as Football Manager 2008 continues to top sales in the UK. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. Flash Focus (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Rune Factory 2 (Marvelous), 2. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! (Namco), 3. Final Fantasy IV (Square Enix), 4. Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi (Square Enix), 5. Dorabase: Dramatic Stadium (Bandai). UK: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 3. Sight Training (Nintendo), 4. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 5. Cooking Mama (505 Games). Mario Kart DS finishes the week in the highest sales position it's seen in many months, though New Super Mario Bros. once again takes top honors in North American DS sales. Brain Age and its sequel also remain popular choices, despite mild supply shortages, and Flash Focus is quickly gaining favor among Amazon shoppers as well. Elsewhere, Rune Factory 2 appears to be reaping the benefits of being the only title released across all platforms in Japan in the past week, as the UK sees both Brain Training titles toppled by New Super Mario Bros. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 3. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 4. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku (Bandai), 2. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku -- Limited Edition (Bandai), 3. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 5. Star Ocean 1: First Departure (Square Enix). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. The Sims 2: Castaway (EA Games), 4. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar). Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories climbs its way to the top of the North American PSP sales chart this week after lingering near the bottom of the top five for the past several months. Vice City Stories also makes a rare chart appearance in the U.S. this week, while demand for the once-popular Madden NFL 08 continues to slack in the post-holiday sales period. In Japan, Star Ocean 1: First Departure slips from last week's first-place debut, due to fluctuating shipping dates resulting from the title's popularity. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku takes over the region's chart in the meantime, and could reign in upcoming weeks as well.