GameFly Rental Chart Highlights: Week Ending January 23

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 23rd, show popularity over multiple game formats. The all-platform charts continue to be remarkably Xbox 360-centric, and even more surprising is the staying power for Sega's Condemned: Criminal Origins. The first-person survival horror game has climbed back to #1 on the overall charts, after renters tire of Dead or Alive 4, released just weeks ago. DOA4 falls to #2 on this week's chart, and again holding up the #3 position is Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. The Prince all-format win is most likely due to the Xbox version's influence, since #1 on the PS2 is Resident Evil 4, now in a lengthy stay in the upper reaches of the PS2-format chart that could last as long as it did on the GC charts. #2 is Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, and #3 is Shadow of the Colossus. The Two Thrones takes #1 on the Xbox-specific charts, by contrast, and the two games underneath it are nothing new in the quiet month of January. Gun is up to #2 and Half-Life 2 is down at #3, but all that's changed since last week is their ordering. On the Xbox 360-specific list, Condemned: Criminal Origins enjoys a stay of execution despite being #1 most wanted on the 360 list, while Dead or Alive 4 matches its all-format performance to come in at #2. Third place this week on the 360 charts is Call of Duty 2, the high-definition console version of the PC game. The GameCube charts are once again led by Super Mario Strikers, coming in at #1 for the second straight week over Mario Party 7 at #2. Breaking Nintendo's first-party hegemony is Shadow the Hedgehog at #3, a spinoff of the Sonic series that has always done extremely well for itself on the Cube. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Duel Academy, the latest portable game in the popular kids' franchise, is still at #1 on the Game Boy Advance charts, over beefed-up SNES port Final Fantasy IV at #2. Ubisoft's virtual pet sim Dogz has been brought to heel this week, as Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap beats it out to the #3 spot, a remarkable run for a game released over a year ago. On the Nintendo DS, the Wi-Fi Connection again reigns supreme, giving Animal Crossing: Wild World the boost it needs to remain at #1. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the action-RPG starring the famous plumbers and their infant selves, shoots back up to #2, displacing quirky cult sensation Electroplankton down to #3. 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 not last much past the PS2 release of the game in March. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo is at #2, and Prince of Persia: Revelations is in third.