Saling The World: Call of Duty, Lich King Reign in U.S. Charts

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five real-time Amazon.com 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 November 20th, 2008, find Call of Duty: World at War and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King again topping sales in North America and the UK, while Japan sees new chart leadership in Gundam vs. Gundam and a DS port of Chrono Trigger. 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. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games). Japan: 1. Machi e Ikouyo: Doubutsu no Mori (Nintendo), 2. Machi e Ikouyo: Doubutsu no Mori WiiSpeak Bundle (Nintendo), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. Wii Music (Nintendo). UK: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09: All-Play (EA Sports), 5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega). Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock makes a surprising return to this week's Wii top five in North America, finishing at second place thanks to a related promotional discount at Amazon. Mario Kart Wii takes this week's top spot, meanwhile, despite the title again going out of stock in the wake of increasing demand. Japan finds a new sales leader in the just-released Machi e Ikouyo: Doubutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: City Folk), as the recent chart-topper Shape Boxing: Wii de Enjoy Diet! is knocked out of the top five. City Folk fails to chart in its first week of North American release, but could become a top five contender as the holidays approach. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 3. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- Game of the Year Edition (Bethesda), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. The Last Remnant (Square Enix), 2. Otomedius Gorgeous! (Konami), 3. FIFA 09 World Soccer (EA Sports), 4. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom). UK: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 3. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 4. Fable II (Microsoft), 5. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft). Call of Duty: World at War leads North American Xbox 360 sales for the second week in a row, barely edging out Gears of War 2 for this week's top position. Valve's Left 4 Dead premieres at third place this week, while the Game of the Year Edition of Oblivion returns to the charts following an Amazon-sponsored discount in price. Though Square Enix's The Last Remnant fails to make an impact upon North America's top five in its debut week, the title meets with a more enthusiastic reception in Japan, where it finishes as this week's biggest seller on the Xbox 360. Fellow recent debut Otomedius Gorgeous also sees big sales in its first week of release, dropping last week's sales leader FIFA 09 to third place. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. LittleBigPlanet (SCEA), 3. Resistance 2 (SCEA), 4. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Midway), 5. Fallout 3 (Bethesda). Japan: 1. Samurai Dou 3 (Spike), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom), 3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Special Edition (Konami), 4. Resistance 2 (SCEI), 5. MotorStorm II (SCEI). UK: 1. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 2. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 3. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports). Call of Duty: World at War, LittleBigPlanet, and Resistance 2 repeat their chart-topping PS3 sales performance seen last week in North America. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe makes its entrance this week at fourth place, as renewed demand for Fallout 3 pushes Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and Valkyria Chronicles out of the top five. In Japan, Samurai Dou 3 leads platform sales for the second week in a row, while MotorStorm II debuts at fifth place. LittleBigPlanet jumps up to first place in Europe following a discount in price at Amazon.co.uk, while the recently debuted Call of Duty: World at War takes second. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 4. Sonic Unleashed (Sega), 5. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 (THQ). Japan: 1. Koihime Musou -- First Print Limited Edition (Yeti), 2. D.Gray-man: Sousha no Shikaku (Konami), 3. Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou -- Plus (Atlus), 4. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! Kindan no Yami no Delta (Marvelous), 5. Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate: The Shield of AIGIS (Alchemist). UK: 1. SingStar: ABBA (SCEE), 2. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 3. SingStar: Boy Bands vs. Girl Bands (SCEE), 4. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 5. SingStar Singalong with Disney (SCEE). Rock Band Special Edition, Lego Batman, and Madden NFL 09 again finish as North America's top PS2 sellers, and are on track to remain in demand throughout the holiday season. Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise sequel Sonic Unleashed debuts this week at fourth place, as WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 drops to fifth. Elsewhere, Yeti's Koihime Musou debuts as this week's best-selling PlayStation 2 title in Japan, as a discounted D.Gray-man: Sousha no Shikaku leads over the recent chart hit Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou. SingStar: ABBA takes the top spot in its first week of UK release, meanwhile, leading to boosted sales for SingStar: Boy Bands vs. Girl Bands and SingStar Singalong with Disney. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King -- Collector's Edition (Blizzard), 3. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- Game of the Year Edition (Bethesda), 5. Spore (EA Games). Japan: 1. Left 4 Dead (Zoo), 2. Aoi Shiro (Success), 3. Clannad: Full Voice (Key), 4. Lineage II: 2nd Throne -- Extra Kit (E Frontier), 5. Chaos;Head (Nitro Plus). UK: 1. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 2. Football Manager 2009 (Sega), 3. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 4. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 5. Spore (EA Games). Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack successfully fends off chart competition from Left 4 Dead, which places third in PC sales in its first week of North American release. The Collector's Edition of Wrath of the Lich King also boasts strong sales this week, despite remaining a sold-out rarity at most retailers. Aftermarket prices for the Collector's Edition currently run in excess of $100, and are expected to climb in the coming months. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Chrono Trigger (Square Enix), 2. Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (Nintendo), 3. Tongari Boushi no Mahou no 365 Nichi (Konami), 4. Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo), 5. Saka-Tsuku DS: Touch and Direct (Sega). UK: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Disney). North American Nintendo DS software sales remain steady, with Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia staying on top while Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. trail close behind. Japan sees a flurry of chart activity this week, meanwhile, with Square Enix's remake of Chrono Trigger edging out Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe as the region's top DS title. Professor Layton stays on top in the UK, with Brain Training following at second place. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Daxter (SCEA), 4. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 5. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA). Japan: 1. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam (Bandai), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 3. Prinny: Ore ga Shujinkou de Iinsuka? (Nippon Ichi), 4. Maplus Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 5. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 (SCEI). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Football Manager Handheld 2009 (Sega), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami). PSP software sales see a shift this week in North America in preparation for the holiday season. Madden NFL 09 currently ranks as the most popular PSP purchase at Amazon, as early holiday shoppers also turn their attention to classic titles like Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus. Japanese PSP sales find new leadership in Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam, which beats out both the multi-week chart-topper Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and the recently released Disgaea spinoff Prinny: Ore ga Shujinkou de Iinsuka? FIFA 09 makes another first-place finish in Europe, meanwhile, with Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones taking second and third place.