Saling The World: Atsumare! Smooth Moves

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 7th, 2006, feature a flurry of activity coinciding with the introduction of hot titles like Lost Planet: Extreme Condition and WarioWare: Smooth Moves. 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. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 2. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Atlus), 5. Call of Duty 3 (Activision). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 3. Zelda no Densetsu: Tasogare no Himegimi (Nintendo), 4. GT Pro Series (MTO), 5. Caduceus Z: 2-tsu no Chou Shittou (Atlus). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 4. Red Steel (Ubisoft), 5. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports). Wii Play has been restocked at Amazon.co.uk this week, and demand for the title is still as high as ever. The just-released WarioWare: Smooth Moves also performs well in the days following its debut, and is expected to have even greater impact when it sees release in the United States next week. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 3. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 4. Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports), 5. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Atsumare! Piñata (Microsoft), 2. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 3. Bullet Witch (AQ Interactive), 4. Chikyuu Boueigun 3 (D3 Publisher), 5. Oneechanbara vorteX (D3 Publisher). UK: 1. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games), 4. Table Tennis (Rockstar), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami). Despite a seeming lack of interest in preorders earlier this week, Atsumare! Piñata (a.k.a. Viva Piñata) surges to the top of the Xbox 360 software sales chart in Japan, handily beating out previous multi-week champ Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. Lost Planet, meanwhile, is popular enough to take the top spot in the UK, where it saw release earlier this week. Whether it can keep this position for long without being overtaken by Gears of War is another matter, as the two titles are expected to compete fiercely in the coming weeks. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 2. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision), 3. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 5. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Armored Core 4 (From Software), 2. MotorStorm (SCEI), 3. Resistance: Jinrui Botsuraku no Hi (SCEI), 4. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco), 5. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games). The month-old Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII makes a rare appearance in the U.S. PS3 charts this week, despite its initially low sales in comparison to other PlayStation 3 releases. Otherwise, few surprises can be found in this week's lists, as both Resistance: Fall of Man and Armored Core 4 continue to lead in the United States and Japan. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II (RedOctane), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 4. Guitar Hero (RedOctane), 5. Karaoke Revolution Party (Konami). Japan: 1. Yoake Yori Ruriiro na: Brighter than Dawning Blue (ARIA), 2. Okami (Capcom), 3. Utawarerumono (Aqua Plus), 4. Ryu ga Gotoku (Sega), 5. Tennis no Oji-Sama: DokiDoki Survival - Sanroku no Mystic (Konami). UK: 1. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 2. Canis Canem Edit (Rockstar), 3. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 4. Buzz! The Big Quiz (SCEE), 5. Guitar Hero II (RedOctane). Price discounts for FIFA 07 and Canis Canem Edit continue to drive PS2 software sales in the UK, though little else has changed in any region this week. Interestingly, the now-budget-priced Karaoke Revolution Party is currently outselling the just-released Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol in the United States, despite the latter title's strong sales debut last week. Odds are that American Idol will make a return to the top 5 in the coming weeks, however. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 2. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 3. The Sims 2: Pets (EA Games), 4. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft), 5. Medieval II: Total War (Sega). Japan: 1. Sukatto Golf Pangya (Frontier Groove), 2. Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ (QuinRose), 3. Final Fantasy XI All-In-One Pack 2006 (Square Enix), 4. Polyphonica 1 & 2 Box Edition (Ocelot), 5. Master of Monsters 4 (SystemSoft Alpha). UK: 1. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 2. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. Age of Empires III (Microsoft), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games). World of Warcraft sees a sales rush in the days leading up to the release of the much-anticipated World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion pack. The new release is expected to revitalize interest in the still-popular MMORPG, and should reign at the top of the PC sales charts in the U.S. and Europe upon its release next week. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Brain Age (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo), 4. Kirby Squeak Squad (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Square Enix), 2. Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 200 Mannin no KanKen: Tokoton Kanji Nou (IE Institute), 3. Nippon Joushikiryoku Kenteikau Kanshuu: Imasara Jin ni wa Kikienai - Otona no Joushikiryoku Training DS (Nintendo), 4. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 5. Hiite Utaeru DS Guitar M-06 (Plato). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo), 4. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). The United States' and Europe's best-selling DS titles this week mirror each other almost exactly, with the only exception being Kirby Squeak Squad's position on the U.S. chart. Though the game was a sales success in both the U.S. and Japan, Kirby Squeak Squad has not yet received a European release date. A release in Europe is likely to happen eventually given Kirby's popularity, but it's uncertain at this point when an announcement will be made. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 5. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 2. Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (Namco), 3. Maplus: Portable Navi (Edia), 4. Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom), 5. Gundam Battle Royale (Bandai). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 3. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami), 4. Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City (EA Games), 5. Medal of Honor: Heroes (EA Games). With a recent price drop spurring sales, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories remains the top seller in PSP software in Europe this week. Its predecessor, Liberty City Stories, still regularly outsells the title in the United States, however, leading some to question whether a similar drop in price for Vice City Stories is due for the U.S. as well.