Column: 'Saling The World: Cooking with LEGO'

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 September 14th, 2006, focus on cooking simulators, role-playing blockbusters, and LEGO-based space fantasy. 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: Xbox 360 North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Saints Row (THQ), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. Dead Rising (Capcom), 5. Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari). Japan: 1. Condemned: Psycho Crime (Sega), 2. Call of Duty 2 (Konami), 3. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft), 4. Major League Baseball 2K6 (Spike), 5. Chromehounds (Sega). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Dead Rising (Capcom), 3. Saints Row (THQ), 4. Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari), 5. Enchanted Arms (Ubisoft). The recently released LEGO Star Wars II reigns at the top of the Xbox 360 charts in both North America and the UK, while Japan continues to see its best sellers in titles seen months ago in other regions. Most other charted titles should come as little surprise, with established hits like Saints Row and Dead Rising continuing to move big numbers. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix), 4. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 5. Xenosaga: Episode III (Bandai Namco Games). Japan: 1. Minna no Tennis (SCEJ), 2. God Hand (Capcom), 3. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 4. .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Saitan (Bandai), 5. Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne (Banpresto). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Guitar Hero (Red Octane), 3. SingStar Anthems (SCEE), 3. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 4. SingStar Party (SCEE), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games). LEGO Star Wars II also sweeps the PS2 in two of the three major regions this week, while popular RPGs like Kingdom Hearts II and Xenosaga: Episode III follow close behind in the United States. Newcomers Minna no Tennis and God Hand take the top two spots in Japan, with the just-released Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne rounding out the region's chart. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 2. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords Expansion Pack (2K Games), 3. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games), 4. Warcraft III: Battlechest (Blizzard), 5. Company of Heroes (THQ). Japan: 1. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 2. Arabians Lost: The Engagement on Desert (QuinRose), 3. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games), 4. Battlefield 2142 (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: Gorgeous Pack (EA Games). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (THQ), 3. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. The Sims 2: Nightlife (EA Games). Few surprises are found in the United States' best-selling PC chart this week, though THQ's latest release, Company of Heroes, could prove to be ample competition for established chart-toppers like World of Warcraft and Civilization IV. Though it failed to place in the top 5 in the U.S., the PC version of LEGO Star Wars II performs the best in Europe this week, beating out even the most popular of The Sims 2's numerous expansion packs. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Cooking Mama (Majesco Sales, Inc.), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Mario Hoops 3 On 3 (Nintendo), 5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Capcom). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy III (Square Enix), 2. Nintendo DS Browser (Nintendo), 3. Mogitate Tingle no Bara Iro Rupee Land (Nintendo), 4. Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori (Nintendo), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo). Majesco's budget-priced localization of Cooking Mama has seen surprisingly brisk sales in North America this week, trumping even two different Mario titles in the process. Much less surprising are Europe's and Japan's lists, which offer only slightly rearranged versions of last week's charts, outside of the entrance of LEGO Star Wars II in the UK. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 2. LocoRoco (SCEA), 3. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 4. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Bandai Namco Games), 5. Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (SCEA). Japan: 1. Ridge Racers 2 (Namco), 2. Valhalla Knights (Marvelous), 3. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Tagforce (Konami), 4. Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition (Namco), 5. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games), 2. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Bandai Namco Games), 3. Gangs of London (SCEE), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Micro Machines V4 (Codemasters). The PSP manages to avoid the brunt of LEGO Star Wars II's multiplatform rampage this week, though the title could eventually beat out even strong sellers like Madden NFL 07 and LocoRoco. Japan is a different story, with new titles like Ridge Racers 2 and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Tagforce making strong showings after their recent release. Game Boy Advance North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Pokémon Sapphire Version (Nintendo), 3. Pokémon Ruby Version (Nintendo), 4. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo), 5. Cars (THQ). Japan: 1. Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo), 2. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo), 3. Screw Breaker: Goushin Dorirurero (Nintendo), 4. Pokémon FireRed Version (Nintendo), 5. bit Generations: Boundish (Nintendo). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Cars (THQ), 3. Madagascar (Activision), 4. Catz (Ubisoft), 5. Dogz (Ubisoft). The introduction of LEGO Star Wars II disrupts Pokémon's dominance of the Game Boy Advance's North American chart this week, and the title has little trouble in topping Europe's list as well. Rhythm Tengoku similarly steals Pokémon's thunder in Japan, while last year's hit Screw Breaker (known as Drill Dozer in North America) experiences a big enough surge in sales this week to take third place. Xbox North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 4. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 5. Ninja Gaiden Black (Tecmo). Japan: 1. Forza Motorsport (Microsoft), 2. X-Men: Legends (Microsoft), 3. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 4. Halo (Microsoft), 5. Phantom Dust (Microsoft). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 3. Fable: The Lost Chapters (Microsoft), 4. Cars (THQ), 5. Halo Triple Pack (Microsoft). There's little to report in terms of changes to the Xbox's worldwide sales charts this week, except to note the success of LEGO Star Wars II's taking of the top spot of yet another platform in Europe and North America. The lists remain mostly unchanged otherwise, with Forza Motorsport being the top seller in Japan, and Halo selling big in all regions. GameCube North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nintendo), 5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki (Nintendo), 2. Lord of the Rings: Uchitsu Kuni Daisanki (EA Games), 3. Metroid Prime Hunters 2: Dark Echoes (Nintendo), 4. Mario Party 7 (Nintendo), 5. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus (Sega). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 2. Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (Nintendo), 3. Mario Party 7 (Nintendo), 4. Resident Evil 2 (Capcom), 5. Shadow the Hedgehog (Sega). GameCube owners in all regions have far fewer new titles to look forward to, what with Nintendo's recent announcement that many of its planned GC releases will instead be released for the upcoming Wii. LEGO Star Wars II dominates in America this week as a result, though other regions will have to remain content with older titles for the time being.