Saling The World: Dragon Quest IX Continues to Top Japanese 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 August 13th, 2009, find Wii Sports Resort again leading worldwide Wii software sales, as Dragon Quest IX finishes as the top multiplatform seller 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. Rock Band 2 Special Edition (MTV Games), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. EA Sports Active (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), 2. Monster Hunter 3 Classic Controller Bundle (Capcom), 3. EA Sports Active (EA Sports), 4. Monster Hunter 3 (Capcom), 5. Wii Fit (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), 2. Ashes Cricket 09 (Codemasters), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. EA Sports Active (EA Sports). Wii Sports Resort tops U.S. sales for the second week in a row, though it faces newfound competition from the recently discounted Rock Band 2 Special Edition. In Japan, Monster Hunter 3 falls behind Wii Sports Resort after a strong showing in its first week of release, while EA Sports Active debuts at third place. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Rock Band 2 Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision), 5. UFC 2009: Undisputed (THQ). Japan: 1. Magna Carta 2 (Banpresto), 2. Gears of War 2 -- Limited Edition (Microsoft), 3. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 4. Red Faction: Guerrilla (THQ), 5. Gears of War -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Microsoft). UK: 1. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Red Faction: Guerrilla (THQ), 4. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 5. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision). The instrument peripheral-bundled Rock Band 2 Special Edition also sees a big sales week on the Xbox 360, thanks to a "Deal of the Day" promotional price drop at Amazon. Halo 3 returns to the U.S. charts at second place, meanwhile, as two Call of Duty sequels follow at third and fourth. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Rock Band 2 Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. LittleBigPlanet (SCEA), 3. InFamous (SCEA), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision). Japan: 1. Senjou no Valkyria -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Sega), 2. Red Faction: Guerrilla (THQ), 3. Katamari Damacy Tribute (Namco), 4. Demon's Souls (SCEI), 5. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6 (Konami). UK: 1. Dead Space (EA Games), 2. InFamous (SCEA), 3. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Ashes Cricket 09 (Codemasters). Amazon reports that Rock Band 2 Special Edition also sweeps North America's PlayStation 3 sales chart, beating out longtime favorites like LittleBigPlanet and InFamous. Senjou no Valkyria climbs to the top of the Japanese charts, as a price-dropped Dead Space continues to head PS3 numbers in the UK. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. God of War (SCEA), 3. Shadow of the Colossus (SCEA), 4. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Atlus), 5. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami). Japan: 1. SD Gundam: G Generation Wars (Bandai), 2. Kamen Raider: Climax Heroes (Bandai), 3. SD Gundam: G Generation Wars -- Special Edition (Bandai), 4. J-League Winning Eleven 2009 Club Championship (Konami), 5. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6 (Konami). UK: 1. SingStar: ABBA (SCEE), 2. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 3. SingStar: Queen (SCEE), 4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 5. SingStar: Singalong with Disney (SCEE). Sony manages to loosen Square Enix's grip on the PlayStation 2 charts in the United States, where God of War and Shadow of the Colossus replace last week's sales champions Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. Persona 4 returns to the local top five at fourth place, as Konami's Metal Gear Solid series compilation The Essential Collection ranks in at fifth. PC North America: 1. The Sims 3 (EA Games), 2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 3. Hearts of Iron III (Southpeak), 4. Star Wars: The Best of PC (LucasArts), 5. Age of Empires Collector's Edition (Valusoft). Japan: 1. Street Fighter IV (Capcom), 2. SimCity 4 Deluxe (EA Games), 3. Monster Hunter Frontier: Online 2-Shuunin Kinen Premium Package (Capcom), 4. Ragnarok Online RJC2009 Memorial Package (E Frontier), 5. Ragnarok Online RJC2009 Vol. 2: The Battle for Glory (E Frontier). UK: 1. The Sims 3 (EA Games), 2. Football Manager 2009 (Sega), 3. Empire: Total War (Sega), 4. Civilization IV: Complete (2K Games), 5. Fallout 3 (Bethesda). The Sims 3 and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King continue to sit atop the U.S. PC charts, with Southpeak's Hearts of Iron III entering the top five at third place. LucasArts' PC-exclusive Star Wars series collection finishes this week at fourth place following a day-long sale at Amazon, as Age of Empires Collector's Edition falls to fifth place. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. Fossil Fighters (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo), 5. The World Ends with You (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Dragon Quest IX (Square Enix), 2. Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo), 3. Irodzuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip (Nintendo), 4. Puyo Puyo 7 (Sega), 5. Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Rich Oosouji (Nintendo). UK: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney), 3. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo), 5. Peppa Pig: The Game (Ubisoft). Nintendo's dinosaur-collecting RPG Fossil Fighters finishes its debut week at third place in the United States, finishing just behind reigning chart leaders New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS. In Japan, Dragon Quest IX remains an unstoppable force, as Nintendo's Irodzuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip premieres at third place in regional sales numbers. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Final Fantasy Tactics (Square Enix), 5. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (Capcom). Japan: 1. Tales of Vs. (Namco), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 3. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva (Sega), 4. Boku no Natsuyasumi 4: Seitouchi Shounen Tanteidan, Boku to Himitsu no Chizu (SCEI), 5. Armored Core 3 Portable (From Software). UK: 1. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (Capcom), 2. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories -- Platinum Edition (Rockstar), 4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 5. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE). Capcom's Monster Hunter Freedom Unite drops to fifth place in this week's North American PSP charts, after spending its first few weeks of release in the top chart spots. God of War: Chains of Olympus leads regional platform sales, as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories take second and third place in the weekly rankings.