Saling The World: Gears of Duty

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 November 9th, 2006, includes warring gears, calls of duty, and copious amounts of guitar heroing. 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: Xbox 360 North America: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision), 5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. Table Tennis (Rockstar), 2. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft), 3. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (EA Games), 4. Final Fantasy XI All in One Pack 2006 (Square Enix), 5. Tomb Raider Legend (Spike). UK: 1. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 2. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 (THQ), 3. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 4. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami), 5. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games). To little surprise, Gears of War rockets to first place in U.S. Xbox 360 software sales in the days following its debut. The title is followed closely by the just-released Call of Duty 3, which manages to take the top sales spot in the UK. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 also proves to be a popular seller in its first week in the UK, and should find similar success in the United States following its release there next week. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 2. Guitar Hero II (RedOctane), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision). Japan: 1. Ryuu ga Gotoku (Sega), 2. Utawarerumono (Aqua Plus), 3. Mai-Kinoto Hime (Sunrise Interactive), 4. Mermaid Prism (D3 Publisher), 5. Xenosaga Episode III Premium DVD (Namco). UK: 1. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 (THQ), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami), 3. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. FIFA 07 (EA Sports). The big news in PS2 sales this week is Guitar Hero II, which places high thanks to the near-equal popularity of both guitar-bundled and standalone versions. Neither version sold quite well enough to match up to Final Fantasy XII, but combined sales could very well place the two games in close proximity. PC North America: 1. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft), 2. The Sims 2: Pets (EA Games), 3. Neverwinter Nights 2 (Atari), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007 (Sega). Japan: 1. Ragnarok Online Anniversary Package (Gungho Online Entertainment), 2. Palais de Reine (Kogado Studio), 3. Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection (EA Games), 4. Battlefield 2142 (EA Games), 5. Final Fantasy XI All in One Pack 2006 (Square Enix). UK: 1. Medieval 2: Total War (Sega), 2. The Sims 2: Pets (EA Games), 3. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade (THQ), 4. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 5. The Sims 2 (EA Games). It's somewhat surprising to note the appearance of Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007 among the week's top-selling PC software in the United States, given the relative unpopularity of the team management genre outside of Europe. The game also makes an appearance in the UK's top 5 (as Football Manager 2007), where it manages to outsell The Sims 2, among a number of other popular titles. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Brain Age (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Nintendogs: Lab & Friends (Nintendo), 4. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (Nintendo), 5. Pokémon Ranger (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Nippon Joushikiryoku Kenteikau Kanshuu: Imasara Jin ni wa Kikienai - Otona no Joushikiryoku Training DS (Nintendo), 2. Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 200 Mannin no KanKen: Tokoton Kanji Nou (Nintendo), 3. Pocket Monsters Diamond (Nintendo), 4. Pocket Monsters Pearl (Nintendo), 5. Hoshi no Kirby: Sanjou! Dorocche Dan (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Bratz: Forever Diamondz (THQ), 5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo). Most of the titles appearing in this week's worldwide Nintendo DS charts should seem familiar, given their frequent appearances in the past. The addition of the just-released brain-training title Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 200 Mannin no KanKen: Tokoton Kanji Nou similarly comes as little surprise, though the game could not quite outsell Nintendo's own Nippon Joushikiryoku Kenteikau Kanshuu: Imasara Jin ni wa Kikienai - Otona no Joushikiryoku Training DS in its first week of release. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Lumines II (Buena Vista), 4. Killzone: Liberation (SCEA), 5. Medal of Honor: Heroes (EA Games). Japan: 1. Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (Namco), 2. Planetarium Curator Ohira Takayuki Kanshuu: Home Star Portable (Sega), 3. SD Gundam G Generation Portable (Bandai), 4. Gundam Battle Royale (Bandai), 5. Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 3. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 4. Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City (EA Games), 5. Cars (THQ). Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories has quickly proven to be the most popular PSP title to be released in months, and it appears to have every intent of remaining at the top of the sales charts in the United States and the UK for many weeks to come. The title faces plenty of competition in the U.S., however, as popular recent releases like Lumines II and Killzone: Liberation are steadily moving up the region's top sellers' list. Game Boy Advance North America: 1. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Nintendo), 2. The Cheetah Girls (Buena Vista), 3. Pokémon Emerald Version (Nintendo), 4. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo), 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Buena Vista). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy V Advance (Square Enix), 2. Final Fantasy IV Advance (Square Enix), 3. Pocket Monsters Emerald (Nintendo), 4. Rhythm Tengoku (Nintendo), 5. Famicom Mini: Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). UK: 1. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Nintendo), 2. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 3. Cars (THQ), 4. Dogz (Ubisoft), 5. Madagascar (Activision). Though Final Fantasy V Advance was released in the United States several days ago, the title does not currently appear to be listed anywhere on Amazon's U.S. site. Hopefully this mistake will be corrected soon, as the game would have very likely made an appearance on this week's U.S. sales chart otherwise. In the meantime, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team continues to top the region's GBA software sales, though the two-month-old The Cheetah Girls manages to place distressingly high as well. Xbox North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 4. Justice League Heroes (Eidos), 5. Destroy All Humans! 2 (THQ). Japan: 1. Halo (Microsoft), 2. Halo 2 (Microsoft), 3. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (Tecmo), 4. Fable (Microsoft), 5. Atari Anthology (Microsoft). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 3. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games), 4. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos), 5. Destroy All Humans! 2 (THQ). Sales of many newer Xbox releases experience a sharp drop this week, with consumers seemingly preferring cheaper re-releases over more expensive titles that have next-gen counterparts. This is likely to develop into a trend following next week's release of the Wii and the PlayStation 3 in the United States, as the addition of more next-gen alternatives will mean further drops in sales for new Xbox releases. GameCube North America: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos), 4. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nintendo), 5. Super Mario Sunshine (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Dairantou Smash Brothers DX (Nintendo), 2. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus (Sega), 3. Bokujou Monogatari: Shiawase no Uta for World (Marvelous), 4. Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes (Nintendo), 5. Mario Party 4 (Nintendo). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars (Eidos), 2. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games), 3. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 4. Mario Party 7 (Nintendo), 5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo). Next week should also see the addition of sales charts for Wii and PlayStation 3 games, as many of both systems' launch titles are scheduled to debut at retail several days before their respective consoles do. This should provide an interesting look at which games are among the most anticipated for both platforms. Thus far, Wii software preorders are lead by The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, while Call of Duty 3 and Ridge Racer 7 are the top preordered titles for the PS3.