Saling The World: GTA IV Repeats U.S. and UK Sales Victory

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 May 8th, 2008, see Grand Theft Auto IV topping multiplatform popularity in North America and the UK, while Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit lead worldwide Nintendo Wii sales. 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. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Boom Blox (EA Games), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Link no Bowgun Training + Wii Zapper (Nintendo), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami). EA's Boom Blox arrives as this week's third-best selling Wii title in North America -- a surprisingly strong debut, considering the long-term sales strength of competing titles like Guitar Hero III and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Mario Kart Wii makes another first-place multiplatform sales finish in its second week of U.S. release, meanwhile, as Wii Play remains high in demand more than a year after its initial release. Amazon also announces the closure of presales for the upcoming North American version of Wii Fit this week, and has replaced preorder options with sign-ups for notification of availability. Given Wii Fit's fast-selling recent debut in the UK (where Amazon reports a shortage of supply), stores in the United States could have equal difficulty in maintaining available stock following the title's release later this month. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV -- Special Edition (Rockstar), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. The Idolm@ster: Live for You! (Namco), 2. The Idolm@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts). As Grand Theft Auto IV continues to lead Xbox 360 software sales in North America, a recently price-dropped Assassin's Creed claims second place in this week's results. Demand remains steady for the Special Edition of GTAIV, as Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 round out the U.S. top five. Elsewhere, The Idolm@ster: Live for You! reclaims the top chart spot in Japan, while GTAIV and Halo 3 lead in the UK. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEA), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV -- Special Edition (Rockstar), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). Japan: 1. Senjou no Valkyria (Sega), 2. Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (Sega), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software), 5. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 (Konami). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEE), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Burnout Paradise (EA Games). Gran Turismo 5 Prologue catches up in this week's North American PlayStation 3 sales results, moving up to take second place after falling to fourth in the week prior. Grand Theft Auto IV takes another overall sales victory, meanwhile, and is likely to continue to top sales for weeks to come. Assassin's Creed also finds new popularity on the PlayStation 3 this week, though its Xbox 360 counterpart benefits from a greater sales boost in the wake of its recent price drop. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. High School Musical: Sing it! (Disney), 2. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (Atlus), 3. SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 (SNK Playmore), 4. God of War II (SCEA), 5. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami). Japan: 1. Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (Koei), 2. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Lost Colors (Bandai), 3. Mana-Khemia: Gakuen no Renkinjutsushi-tachi -- Gust Best Price (Gust), 4. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 (Konami), 5. Kuryuu Youma Gakuenki Re:charge (Atlus). UK: 1. SingStar Summer Party (SCEE), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 4. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 5. SingStar Popworld (SCEE). An Amazon-sponsored "Deal of the Day" promotional discount places the microphone peripheral-bundled High School Musical: Sing it! at the top of this week's U.S. PlayStation 2 sales, leaving last week's chart champion Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES at second place. Finishing just behind FES is the recently released Neo Geo arcade compilation SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1, which makes a strong chart debut this week despite experiencing initial issues with availability and shipping delays. PC North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. Hoyle Card Games 2008 (Encore), 4. Warcraft III: Battle Chest (Blizzard), 5. The Orange Box (EA Games). Japan: 1. Chaos;Head (Nitro Plus), 2. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 01: Hatsune Miku (Crypton Future Media), 3. Clannad Full Voice (Key), 4. Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 5. The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Pack (EA Games). UK: 1. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition (Ubisoft), 2. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 3. The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). PC preorders continue to be headed by Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures in this week's results at Amazon, while the upcoming PC port of Mass Effect also sees a jump in presales. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare claims a first-place victory among released software, while last week's sales leader World of Warcraft: Battle Chest falls out of the top five in favor of a sales resurgence for Warcraft III: Battle Chest. Nintendo DS North America: 1. The World Ends With You (Square Enix), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo), 2. Bokura wa Kaseki Holder (Nintendo), 3. Maji de Manabu: LEC de Ukaru - DS Hishou Boki 3-Kyuu (Square Enix), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (Namco). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. More Brain Training (Nintendo). North America's Nintendo DS weekly sales results have changed rapidly throughout the month. After debuting to a first-place sales finish two weeks ago, Square Enix's The World Ends With You was nowhere to be found in last week's top five. One week later, The World Ends With You returns to chart-topping sales, leaving last week's top-five finishers New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS in its wake. Just outside the top five at sixth place is this week's first-party release of Crosswords DS, whose strong initial sales indicate a potential to break into North America's DS bestseller charts in future weeks. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 2. Maplus Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 3. Star Ocean: The Second Evolution (Square Enix), 4. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabou - Axis no Kyoui (Bandai), 5. Musou Orochi (Koei). UK: 1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 4. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 5. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 (Konami). Though the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV continues to spur increased sales for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories in North America, Crisis Core and God of War: Chains of Olympus remain unchallenged for chart supremacy for several consecutive weeks. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops finds a minor sales increase this week, while last week's strong performers SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 and Patapon fall out of the top five. R-Type Command makes a disappointing finish in its debut week, meanwhile, charting at fourteenth place in PSP sales in spite of last week's sudden rush of presales at Amazon.