Saling The World: FFIV, Time Crisis 4 Lead Shift In Japanese Sales

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 December 20th, 2007, feature shifts in popularity due to holiday sale prices in North America, while new releases like Final Fantasy IV and Time Crisis 4 make waves 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. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 2. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom), 3. Wii Zapper with Link's Crossbow Training (Nintendo), 4. Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Konami), 5. Ghost Squad (Sega). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 4. Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Sega), 5. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo). UK: 1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts), 4. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). An unannounced pre-Christmas sale at Amazon drops the price of many popular recent releases significantly, and results in the shuffling of chart positions across several platforms. In the Wii's case, both Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Ghost Squad climb their way back up the weekly North American sales chart after receiving steep discounts, while the Wii Zapper bundle reappears after a long chart absence, thanks to an upcoming resupply of stock. Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party's popularity has drained Amazon's stock of the title completely, however, and aftermarket prices have quickly surged to capitalize on the opportunity. Demand for Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon: Toki Wasure No Meikyuu falls sharply this week in Japan, meanwhile, and the title fails to chart alongside sales winners Wii Fit and Super Mario Galaxy. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Rock Band (EA Games), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. Mass Effect (Microsoft). Japan: 1. FIFA 08 World Cup Soccer (EA Sports), 2. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft), 3. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (Microsoft), 4. Dead Rising / Gears of War -- Xbox 360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom / Microsoft), 5. The Idol M@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). A surprise resupply of the highly sought-after Rock Band bundle generates fast sales at Amazon, and results in Rock Band becoming the week's best-selling title across all platforms in North America. Even longtime overall sales leader Super Mario Galaxy falls to second place in the wake of this demand, though supplies have traditionally been available in such limited supply that Rock Band is not expected to remain in stock for much longer. Japan, on the other hand, finds its sales headed by the just-released FIFA 08 World Cup Soccer, as Call of Duty 4 maintains its lead in Europe. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Rock Band (EA Games), 3. Time Crisis 4 (Namco Bandai), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA). Japan: 1. Time Crisis 4 (Namco), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEI), 3. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei), 4. Uncharted: El Dorado no Hihou (SCEI), 5. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEE), 3. Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCEE), 4. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). PlayStation 3 software sales in the United States receive a shot in the arm thanks to Amazon's pre-Christmas sale, with a moderate price drop placing Call of Duty 4 on top in this week's results. The recently released Time Crisis 4 also performs well this week, due in large part to an Amazon-sponsored discount in price of 44%. Time Crisis 4 wins this week in Japan as well, where it scores a first-place sales victory over last week's chart leader Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 2. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (Agetec), 3. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 4. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). Japan: 1. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami), 2. Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 2 (Bandai), 3. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri: Kakera Asobi (Alchemist), 4. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri: Kakera Asobi -- Append Edition (Alchemist), 5. SD Gundam G Generation Spirits (Bandai). UK: 1. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Need for Speed ProStreet (EA Games), 4. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 5. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (D3 Publisher). After generating big sales in its week of release and then disappearing from the charts shortly thereafter, a price drop for Fire Pro Wrestling Returns carries it back up to second place in PlayStation 2 software sales this week. Otherwise, multiple versions of Guitar Hero still dominate North America's sales chart, as Amazon struggles to maintain adequate supplies. In Japan, newcomers Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 2 and two editions of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri: Kakera Asobi make their way up the region's sales chart, while Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 stays on top. PC North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. The Orange Box (EA Games), 3. Crysis (EA Games), 4. Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game (Viva Media), 5. Crazy Machines 1.5 (Viva Media). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier Online: Christmas Gentei Package (Capcom), 2. Sukatto Golf Pangya! Yokubari Kit (e frontier), 3. Crysis (EA Games), 4. Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 5. SimCity Societies (EA Games). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. The Orange Box (EA Games), 3. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 4. Crysis (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games). PC software sales remain as predictable as ever in North America, where chart results see only a slight shift this week. Crysis moves up a spot to third place, as a second edition of Crazy Machines creeps into the top five. Japan, meanwhile, finds new chart leadership in the recent seasonal release Monster Hunter Frontier Online: Christmas Gentei Package, while the just-released Japanese version of SimCity Societies makes an impressive debut at fifth place. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 3. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 4. Yoshi's Island DS (Nintendo), 5. Flash Focus (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Mario Party DS (Nintendo), 2. Final Fantasy IV (Square Enix), 3. Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi (Square Enix), 4. Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero (Nintendo), 5. Layton Kyouju to Akuma no Hako -- Special Edition (Level 5). UK: 1. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 4. Sight Training (Nintendo), 5. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo). New Super Mario Bros. finds itself topping weekly North American Nintendo DS software sales for the first time in many months, as longtime leader Brain Age 2 falls behind in its wake. Yoshi's Island DS mounts a sales comeback, meanwhile, after receiving a heavy price drop at Amazon, though a similar discount for Flash Focus does not appear to have as significant of an effect. Last week's Japanese sales frontrunner Dragon Quest IV slides to third place this week, meanwhile, in favor of the recent Final Fantasy IV and the popular Mario Party DS. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 3. Medal of Honor: Heroes (EA Games), 4. Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (Konami), 5. The Simpsons Game (EA Games). Japan: 1. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 2. Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC&SC Kanzenban (Nihon Falcom), 3. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida. (SCEI), 4. Minna no Golf Portable 2 (SCEI), 5. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom). UK: 1. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEE), 4. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 5. Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (LucasArts). Medal of Honor: Heroes makes significant headway in this week's PSP sales results in North America, while Madden NFL 08 remains at the top for many weeks running. New releases like Maplus: Portable Navi 2 and the compilation Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC&SC Kanzenban lead in Japan, as The Simpsons Game once again takes first place in UK sales.