Saling The World: Arkham Asylum, Guitar Hero 5 Head U.S. Charts

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 3rd, 2009, find Batman: Arkham Asylum and Guitar Hero 5 leading multiplatform sales in the United States, while Love Plus and Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki see strong debuts in Japan. 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: Nintendo Wii North America: 1. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Guitar Hero 5 (Activision), 5. EA Sports Active (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), 2. Monster Hunter 3 Classic Controller Bundle (Capcom), 3. Ousama Monogatari (Marvelous), 4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 5. EA Sports Active (EA Sports). UK: 1. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 5. EA Sports Active (EA Sports). Guitar Hero 5 is off to a fast sales start in North America this week. The title finds particular success on the Nintendo Wii, which sports a large install base of Rock Band and Guitar Hero instrument peripherals. Metroid Prime Trilogy drops out of the regional top five in only its second week of release, meanwhile, as EA Sports Active returns at fifth place after a brief chart absence. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Guitar Hero 5 (Activision), 4. Madden NFL 10 (EA Sports), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision). Japan: 1. Dream C Club (D3 Publisher), 2. Dream C Club -- Special Edition (D3 Publisher), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 4. Gears of War 2 -- Limited Edition (Microsoft), 5. The Idolm@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco). UK: 1. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision), 3. IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (505 Games), 4. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 5. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft). Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare find themselves back in the North American top five this week, thanks to recent "Deal of the Day" price drops at Amazon. Batman: Arkham Asylum continues to lead overall sales for the platform, as Guitar Hero 5 edges past Madden NFL 10 to take second place. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos), 2. Madden NFL 10 (EA Sports), 3. Guitar Hero 5 (Activision), 4. Uncharted -- Greatest Hits (SCEA), 5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Greatest Hits (Konami). Japan: 1. Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki (Bandai), 2. 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de (Sega), 3. 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de -- Premium Fan Disc Edition (Sega), 4. Senjou no Valkyria -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Sega), 5. Grand Theft Auto IV -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Capcom). UK: 1. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos), 2. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 3. IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (505 Games), 4. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 5. Killzone 2 (SCEE). Batman: Arkham Asylum also tops this week's PlayStation 3 charts in the U.S. and the UK, fending off competition from recent hits like Guitar Hero 5 and Madden NFL 10. In Japan, Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki debuts as the region's top weekly seller, as Sega's port of the Wii adventure title 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de takes second place. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero 5 (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero World Tour -- Guitar Kit (Activision), 3. Madden NFL 10 (EA Sports), 4. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (Atlus), 5. Final Fantasy X -- Greatest Hits (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Hakuouki: Zuisouroku -- Limited Edition (Idea Factory), 2. Hakuouki: Zuisouroku (Idea Factory), 3. Melty Blood: Actress Again (Ecole), 4. SD Gundam: G Generation Wars (Bandai), 5. Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes (Bandai). UK: 1. SingStar: ABBA (SCEE), 2. SingStar: Queen (SCEE), 3. SingStar: Singalong with Disney (SCEE), 4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 5. FIFA 09 (EA Sports). Guitar Hero 5 debuts as this week's biggest-selling PlayStation 2 title in the United States. Its popularity also spurs demand for last year's Guitar Hero World Tour, which climbs to second place in domestic sales. A reprinted Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne has also seen increased popularity at Amazon in the past week, as the five-year-old title has since achieved weekly sales numbers that rival Madden NFL 10's. PC North America: 1. The Sims 3 (EA Games), 2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard), 4. Wolfenstein (Activision), 5. Champions Online (Atari). Japan: 1. SimCity 4 Deluxe (EA Games), 2. The Sims 3 (EA Games), 3. Monster Hunter Frontier Online 2nd (Capcom), 4. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Cyberfront), 5. Ragnarok Online RJC2009 Memorial Package (E Frontier). UK: 1. The Sims 3 (EA Games), 2. Champions Online (Atari), 3. Wolfenstein (Activision), 4. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 5. Football Manager 2009 (Sega). Cryptic Studios' anticipated MMORPG Champions Online premieres at fifth place this week in North America, as The Sims 3 and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King continue to head regional sales. The World of Warcraft Battle Chest compilation also remains a popular pick among Amazon shoppers, while Wolfenstein makes an impressive second-week showing at fourth place. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Fossil Fighters (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Love Plus (Konami), 2. Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo), 3. Dragon Quest IX (Square Enix), 4. Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha Kanshuu: Shiranai Mamade wa Son o Suru Mono ya Okane no Shikumi (Nintendo), 5. Sloane to MacHale no Nazo no Monogatari 2 (Level 5). UK: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney), 3. Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Peppa Pig: The Game (Ubisoft), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box retains the top spot in U.S. Nintendo DS sales for the second week running, and its predecessor title Professor Layton and the Curious Village climbs up to third place in its wake. In Japan, Konami's recently released dating sim Love Plus takes the platform's top sales spot in its debut week, pushing Nintendo's Tomodachi Collection and Dragon Quest IX to second and third place. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 4. SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny (Namco Bandai), 5. Resistance: Retribution (SCEA). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 2. Hakuouki Portable -- Limited Edition (Idea Factory), 3. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva (Sega), 4. Hakuouki Portable (Idea Factory), 5. Heart no Kuni no Alice (Prototype). UK: 1. Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix), 2. Dissidia Final Fantasy -- Special Edition (Square Enix), 3. SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny (Namco Bandai), 4. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (Capcom), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories -- Platinum Edition (Rockstar). Dissidia Final Fantasy again heads North American PSP sales, beating out newfound competition from God of War: Chains of Olympus, which has seen increased popularity since Sony's recent announcement that the first two chapters of the series will be collected in the upcoming God of War Collection for the PlayStation 3. Namco Bandai's SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny premieres this week at fourth place, meanwhile, as Sony's Resistance: Retribution finishes at fifth.