Saling The World: Guitar Hero Encore Tops Charts in U.S. and UK

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 July 26th, 2007, feature strong U.S. and UK sales for Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and chart-topping debuts for Taiko no Tatsujin DS, Minna no Golf 5, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 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 Paper Mario (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 5. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Kidou Senshi Gundam: MS Sensen 0079 (Bandai), 3. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 4. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 5. Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Square Enix). UK: 1. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo), 2. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). Super Paper Mario crawls its way back up to the top of the charts in the United States this week, thanks to a recent price drop to $39.99. It's unknown whether this is a universal drop, or if this new price point is specific to Amazon. In Japan, the recent debuts Mario Party 8 and Kidou Senshi Gundam: MS Sensen 0079 account for the bulk of this week's Wii software sales, while former leader Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou has dropped to fifth place. Xbox 360 North America: 1. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 3. Gears of War (Microsoft), 4. NASCAR 08 (EA Sports), 5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Spike), 2. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 3. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 4. Chikyuu Boueigun 3 (D3 Publisher), 5. Trusty Bell -- Chopin no Yume (Namco). UK: 1. The Darkness (2K Games), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Crackdown (Microsoft), 4. Forza Motorsport 2 -- Limited Edition (Microsoft), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games). While NCAA Football 08 continues to rule the United States' Xbox 360 bestseller chart, EA's NASCAR 08 also manages to make a strong impression in its debut week. Amazon reports that the Xbox 360 port of NASCAR 08 is currently the most popular version by a wide margin, and could remain in the top five for weeks to come. The Japanese chart, meanwhile, is topped by the just-released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which Japanese Xbox 360 owners are eagerly snapping up after a months-long wait for a localized version. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 2. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 3. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda). Japan: 1. Minna no Golf 5 (SCEI), 2. Wangan Midnight (Genki), 3. Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (SCEI), 4. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (D3 Publisher), 5. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco). UK: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 2. MotorStorm (SCEE), 3. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 4. Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega), 5. The Darkness (2K Games). Sales for the PlayStation 3 port of NCAA Football 08 slip considerably this week in a surprising twist, following a first-place debut in the previous week. Amazon reports that its customers still vastly prefer the Xbox 360 port of NCAA Football 08 above all others, and even the last-gen PlayStation 2 version pulls in significantly larger weekly sales numbers than its PS3 counterpart. Japan, on the other hand, sees its list dominated by recent releases Minna no Golf 5 and Wangan Midnight, both of which have the potential to stay atop the chart for many future weeks. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 3. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports), 4. God of War (SCEA), 5. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection (Konami), 2. Ikki Tousen: Shining Dragon (Marvelous), 3. Ultraman Fighting Evolution 3 -- Banpresto Best (Banpresto), 4. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 14 (Konami), 5. Rozen Maiden ~Gebetgarten~ (Taito). UK: 1. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 2. Rugby 08 (EA Sports), 3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 4. Formula One 06 -- Platinum (SCEE), 5. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos). Despite a tepid reception from reviewers and widespread criticism over its $50 pricetag, the Guitar Hero II expansion-styled release Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s takes top honors in this week's sales results in the U.S. and the UK. The guitar-bundled version of Guitar Hero II additionally sees boosted sales as a result. Amazon also indicates that a slight shipping delay has done little to quell anticipation for the upcoming American release of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, as the title ranks high in PS2 software preorder numbers even after its recently announced change of release date. PC North America: 1. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 5. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Little Busters! (KEY), 2. Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B (Ecole), 3. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games), 4. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 5. Monster Hunter Frontier (Capcom). UK: 1. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games), 2. Medieval II: Total War (Sega), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 5. The Sims 2: H&M Stuff (EA Games). Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is off to a fast sales start in the United States, duplicating the chart-topping success it found after its debut in the UK last week. Otherwise, World of Warcraft and its expansion continue to rule the day in both regions. Less expected news comes from Japan, however, where Little Busters! and Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B breathe new life into a chart that remains largely stagnant from week to week. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! (Namco), 2. Subarashiki Kono Sekai (Square Enix), 3. Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei (Nintendo), 4. Ganbaru Watashi no Kakei Diary (Nintendo), 5. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo). UK: 1. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 3. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). Namco's drum-based rhythm title Taiko no Tatsujin DS does brisk business in its first few days of release in Japan, outpacing the sales of both the popular Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei and Square Enix's Subarashiki Kono Sekai (It's a Wonderful World). A brief reduction in price drives Big Brain Academy back up the charts in the United States this week, though demand for the title is expected to cool once again now that its listed cost has risen back up to MSRP. Europe, meanwhile, is showing the resulting sales of a week that brought a Pokemon invasion, with both Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl unlikely to budge from the top two weekly sales spots for the next several weeks. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Lumines (Ubisoft), 2. Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition (Square Enix), 3. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 4. Transformers: The Game (Activision), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Lumines -- PSP the Best (Bandai), 3. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 4. Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou (Square Enix), 5. Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC (Nihon Falcom). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Formula One 06 -- Platinum (SCEE), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega), 5. Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City (EA Games). Not even the allure of the recently released RPG remake Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition can distract PSP owners from the prospect of using homebrew software via the well-publicized Lumines exploit. Even with its high level of demand, however, aftermarket prices for Lumines have calmed to a $30-$40 range for the time being, though prices could fluctuate depending on whether sellers' supplies prove to be adequate. Lumines remains in demand in Japan as well, but the just-released Japanese version of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories barely manages to come out on top as the region's best-selling PSP title for the week.