Column: 'Saling The World: Why Okami? Just Cause'

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 21st, 2006, includes mysterious dungeons, kingly quests, and magical wolf powers. 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. The Godfather: The Game (EA Games), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. Saints Row (THQ), 5. Dead Rising (Capcom). Japan: 1. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft), 2. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (EA Games), 3. Burnout Revenge (EA Games), 4. Over G Energy Airforce (Taito), 5. The Conveni 200X (Hamster). UK: 1. Just Cause (Eidos Interactive), 2. Dead Rising (Capcom), 3. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 4. Saints Row (THQ), 5. Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari). LEGO Star Wars II continues to linger in the top five of many regions' bestseller lists this week, taking first place in the United States, and beating out recent Xbox 360 releases like EA's upgraded port of The Godfather in the process. The title slips a couple of places in Europe, however, bested by both Capcom's Dead Rising and newcomer Just Cause. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Okami (Capcom), 2. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Games), 4. Guitar Hero (Red Octane), 5. Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Minna no Tennis (SCEJ), 2. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de: Mai Hito Yo Premium Box (Koei), 3. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de: Mai Hito Yo (Koei), 4. Chaos Wars (Idea Factory), 5. Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne (Banpresto). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 3. Just Cause (Eidos Interactive), 4. Cars (THQ), 5. LMA Manager 2007 (Codemasters). Okami seems to be performing well in its first week of release in the United States, outselling formidable opponents like LEGO Star Wars II and Madden NFL 07 in order to take the #1 spot. LEGO Star Wars II still holds firm in Europe, though, despite competition from new releases like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and Just Cause. PC North America: 1. King's Quest Collection (Vivendi Games), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Company of Heroes (THQ), 4. Space Quest Collection (Vivendi Games), 5. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games). Japan: 1. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 2. Sakura Taisen Premium Edition (Sega), 3. Muv-Luv Alternative (Age), 4. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games), 5. Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan (Square Enix). UK: 1. Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (THQ), 2. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 3. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. The Sims 2: Open for Business (EA Games). In a surprising twist, the adventure game compilation King's Quest Collection takes first place from the nigh-invulnerable World of Warcraft in the United States this week. Vivendi Games' Space Quest Collection also manages to place in America's top 5 -- a testament to the strength of nostalgia among PC gamers, many of whom have long requested Windows XP-compatible versions of these popular Sierra classics. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team (Nintendo), 2. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Konami), 3. Cooking Mama (Majesco), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Brain Age (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy III (Square Enix), 2. Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori (Nintendo), 3. Nintendo DS Browser (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 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. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo). A new Pokémon title and a reprinted Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow take the top spots for Nintendo DS sales in the United States this week. Both titles beat out the previous week's best seller Cooking Mama, which falls to third place. More stability can be found in Japan's and Europe's charts, both of which consist entirely of established sellers from Nintendo and Square Enix. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 2. The Godfather: Mob Wars (EA Games), 3. LocoRoco (SCEA), 4. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Bandai Namco Games), 5. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Bande Dessinee (Konami), 2. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Tagforce (Konami), 3. Ridge Racers 2 (Namco), 4. Bounty Hounds (Namco), 5. Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition (Namco). UK: 1. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Bandai Namco Games), 2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games), 4. Cars (THQ), 5. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts). Many of last week's PSP best sellers get shuffled around for this week's charts, to accommodate the introduction of select new releases. The Godfather: Mob Wars places high in its first week of release, as does Metal Gear Solid: Bande Dessinee, the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 also makes an impressive showing in Europe, though it's not impressive enough to defeat the popular seller Tekken: Dark Resurrection. Game Boy Advance North America: 1. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Nintendo), 2. Pokémon Leaf Green Version (Nintendo), 3. Cars (THQ), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Pokémon Fire Red Version (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo), 2. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo), 3. Famicom Mini: Ice Climber (Nintendo), 4. Famicom Mini: Zelda no Densetsu (Nintendo), 5. Pokémon Fire Red Version (Nintendo) UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Cars (THQ), 3. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Square Enix), 4. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo), 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Buena Vista Games). Nothing quite highlights the cultural divide between Japan and other nations like the placing of the 20-year-old Ice Climber in a current list of the nation's best sellers. Other regions offer much less puzzling charts, which consist mostly of the expected Pokémon games and titles based on licensed properties. Xbox North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 3. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 4. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 5. Halo (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 2. Halo (Microsoft), 3. Forza Motorsport (Microsoft), 4. Fable (Microsoft), 5. Phantom Dust (Microsoft). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 4. Just Cause (Eidos Interactive), 5. Jaws Unleashed (Majesco). Not even the combined might of new releases like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and Just Cause can topple LEGO Star Wars II, which places first in both the United States' and the UK's Xbox charts this week. The longevity of the original LEGO Star Wars is not to be underestimated, either, as the title continues to rank high in both the US and the UK, despite being over a year old. GameCube North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 3. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nintendo), 4. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Metroid Prime Hunters 2: Dark Echoes (Nintendo), 2. Wario World (Nintendo), 3. Dance Dance Revolution with Mario (Nintendo), 4. Bokujou Monogatari: Shiawase no Uta for World (Marvelous), 5. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus (Sega). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos Interactive), 2. Mario Party 7 (Nintendo), 3. Mario Party 5 (Nintendo), 4. Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (Nintendo), 5. Animal Crossing (Nintendo). It's business as usual for the GameCube in all regions this week, with LEGO Star Wars II and the usual batch of Nintendo-published titles dominating the charts. Japan sees slightly more variety than other parts of the world, however, with oddities like Dance Dance Revolution with Mario and Bokujou Monogatari: Shiawase no Uta for World (Harvest Moon: Magical Melody) creeping into the mix.