Column: 'Saling The World: Rhythm and Glamor'

Gamasutra's new 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 7th, 2006, includes heavenly rhythm, singing blobs, and The Sims sweeping up. 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. Saints Row (THQ), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari), 4. Dead Rising (Capcom), 5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft), 2. Senko no Ronde Rev. x (Sega), 3. Condemned: Psycho Crime (Sega), 4. Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft), 5. Call of Duty 2 (Konami). UK: 1. Dead Rising (Capcom), 2. Saints Row (THQ), 3. Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari), 4. Enchanted Arms (Ubisoft), 5. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports). Saints Row, Dead Rising, and Test Drive: Unlimited are among the biggest titles the Xbox 360 has seen in recent memory, and all are strong performers in both the United States and in the UK. Japan, on the other hand, sees its biggest sellers in older titles like Perfect Dark Zero and Call of Duty 2, though the region-exclusive shooter Senko no Ronde Rev. X is also generating big sales. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 2. NASCAR 07 (EA Sports), 3. Disgaea 2 (NIS America), 4. Xenosaga: Episode III (Bandai Namco Games), 5. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 2. Melty Blood: Act Cadenza (Ecole), 3. Sengoku Basara 2 (Capcom), 4. Persona 3 (Atlus), 5. .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Saitan (Bandai). UK: 1. Guitar Hero (Red Octane), 2. Cars (THQ), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games), 4. Buzz! The Big Quiz (SCEE), 5. SingStar Anthems (SCEE). Few surprises are to be found in the United States' best seller list this week, with all titles being very recent releases whose popularity was forecasted months beforehand. The same goes for Japan, where popular RPG franchises dominate, though homebrew fighter-turned-commercial product Melty Blood: Act Cadenza is also performing very well. The UK list is the most unusual of the three, with genres like rhythm, quiz, and karaoke seeing representation in the majority of the week's top titles. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 2. Warcraft III: Battlechest (Blizzard), 3. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 4. Baldur's Gate II: The Collection (Vivendi Universal), 5. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords Expansion Pack (2K Games). Japan: 1. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 2. Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle (NC Japan), 3. Lineage Episode 5: The Lastavard (NC Japan), 4. San Goku Shi XI: Power Up Kit (Koei), 5. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games). UK: 1. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games), 2. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts), 3. The Sims 2: Open for Business (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2: Nightlife (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: University (EA Games). It's a clean sweep for The Sims in Europe, where the series dominates all five positions on the region's best seller chart. The Sims also sees representation in North America's and Japan's lists, though titles in the Warcraft series are currently more prominent in the U.S., and in Japan, Phantasy Star Universe is the MMORPG to watch. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Capcom), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Star Fox Command (Nintendo), 5. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy III (Square Enix), 2. Mogitate Tingle no Bara Iro Rupee Land (Nintendo), 3. Nintendo DS Browser (Nintendo), 4. Shaberu! DS Oryouri Navi (Nintendo), 5. Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS Training (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo). A recent reissue and positive word of mouth help to ensure lawyer sim Phoenix Wright's position at the top of the U.S. best seller list this week. Japan, on the other hand, is seeing big sales for more recent releases like Final Fantasy III and Mogitate Tingle no Bara Iro Rupee Land. Also worth noting is that the Brain Age series makes an appearance on all charts this week, with Brain Training taking the #1 spot in the UK. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. LocoRoco (SCEA), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Bandai Namco Games), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games), 5. Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins (Capcom). Japan: 1. Valhalla Knights (Marvelous), 2. Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition (Namco), 3. Capcom Classics Collection (Capcom), 4. Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 2 (Namco), 5. SD Gundam G Generation Portable (Bandai). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games), 2. Gangs of London (SCEE), 3. SSX On Tour (EA Sports), 4. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Bandai Namco Games), 5. Lemmings (SCEE). Despite making its debut a scant few days ago, LocoRoco has quickly climbed to the top of North America's best sellers chart, outselling even big names like Madden and Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins. The majority of the PSP's list in Japan is similarly composed of recent releases, among them being Tales of Phantasia's remake and Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 2. Europe, meanwhile, sees many of its strongest performances in proven sellers like SSX On Tour and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Game Boy Advance North America: 1. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo), 2. Pokémon Sapphire Version (Nintendo), 3. Super Mario Advance (Nintendo), 4. Pokémon Fire Red Version (Nintendo), 5. Pokémon Ruby Version (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo), 2. Final Fantasy IV Advance (Square Enix), 3. Mahou Sensei Negima! Private Lesson 2 (Marvelous), 4. bit Generations: Coloris (Nintendo), 5. Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dogz (Ubisoft), 2. Cars (THQ), 3. Pippa Funnell Stable Adventure (Ubisoft), 4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Buena Vista Games), 5. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo). Pokémon continues to be as strong a seller for Nintendo as ever, particularly in North America, where the franchise takes up nearly all five of the top sellers' slots. Japan, meanwhile, is giving the rhythm title Rhythm Tengoku a warm reception, while Coloris appears to be the most popular of the budget-priced bit Generations line, at least at the moment. Xbox North America: 1. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 2. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 3. NASCAR 07 (EA Sports), 4. Star Wars: Battlefront II (LucasArts), 5. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive). Japan: 1. Phantom Dust (Microsoft), 2. Project Gotham Racing 2 (Microsoft), 3. Halo (Microsoft), 4. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (Tecmo), 5. Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (Sega). UK: 1. Cars (THQ), 2. Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (Ubisoft), 3. Halo Triple Pack (Microsoft), 4. Fable: The Lost Chapters (Microsoft), 5. Halo 2 (Microsoft). Spurred by the upcoming release of LEGO Star Wars II, the Xbox sees increased sales for both Star Wars: Battlefront II and the original LEGO Star Wars. Few surprises are to be found in either Japan's or the UK's list, however, as easily recognizable names like Halo, Fable, and Dead or Alive continue to dominate in both regions. GameCube North America: 1. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 2. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo), 3. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo), 4. Mario Party 7 (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart: Double Dash (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Metroid Prime Hunters 2: Dark Echoes (Nintendo), 2. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus (Sega), 3. Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki (Nintendo), 4. Lord of the Rings: Uchitsu Kuni Daisanki (EA Games), 5. Dairantou Smash Brothers DX (Nintendo). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 2. Cars (THQ), 3. Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (Nintendo), 4. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo), 5. Skies of Arcadia Legends (Atari). There's a lot of Mario in the GameCube's top sellers in North America, where Paper Mario's sequel is propelled into second place by virtue of its recent adoption into Nintendo's "Players Choice" line of budget-priced rereleases. Super Smash Bros. Melee has proven itself to have a lot of staying power as well, with the game placing in the top five sellers for every region.