GameFly Rental Chart Highlights: Week Ending January 16

This week's GameFly video game rental charts for North America, specifically relating to games rented via the games-by-mail service for the week ending January 16th, show popularity over multiple game formats. The Xbox 360 continues apace as the favored platform for GameFly subscribers, again leading the all-platform charts with 360-exclusive titles Dead or Alive 4 at #1 and Condemned: Criminal Origins at #2. In third place, representing the current-generation favorite, is Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, completing the trilogy begun with The Sands of Time. (Oddly, GameFly's charts seem to have shifted from listing specific systems for each cross-platform entry to treating all versions of a game as one title, so it's unclear which Prince this is.) It may be the PlayStation 2 version, since The Two Thrones is #1 on that system, sitting regally atop Resident Evil 4 at #2 and Shadow of the Colossus, which has slipped back to #3. But then, the Xbox version is also doing well, since The Two Thrones is also #1 on Microsoft's current-generation console chart, where it faces different competition in the form of the Xbox version of Half-Life 2 at #2 and Activision's Gun at #3. On the Xbox 360-specific list, Dead or Alive 4 matches its peak performance to come out on top; Condemned: Criminal Origins is a natural second place following its same performance on the all-format list, and this week, Peter Jackson's King Kong climbs the evolutionary ladder to rest at #3.. A slight shift in the GameCube charts means that once again, Nintendo's first-party titles dominate the top three -- a string of third-party successes such as Resident Evil 4, Shadow the Hedgehog, and (once again) Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones had always found a place for themselves on the GC rental charts until now. Super Mario Strikers has once again flipped positions with Mario Party 7, taking #1 over the long-running party franchise's #2, and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance has come in at #3. On Game Boy Advance, Final Fantasy IV has been unseated at the top spot by Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Duel Academy, the latest portable game in the popular kids' franchise. FFIV is down at #2, over Ubisoft's non-dual-screen, non-microphone, non-stylus virtual pet sim Dogz at #3. For the Nintendo DS, our predictions were correct: Electroplankton gave a healthy performance for such a niche title, earning a #2 slot on the strength of its scarcity at retail. Animal Crossing, meanwhile, has vaulted up to #1, while its Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection counterpart Mario Kart DS has taken third place. Finally, on the PSP charts, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is still holding its own at #1 on the PSP list, a reign which may be somewhat diluted by the PS2 release of the game later this year. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo is at #2, and Prince of Persia: Revelations is in third.