Saling The World: Kirby, Pokemon Lead Worldwide DS Demand

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 October 2nd, 2008, find Kirby Super Star Ultra overtaking Guitar Hero: On Tour in North American Nintendo DS sales, while Pocket Monsters Platinum leads portable demand 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. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Active Life Outdoor Challenge (Bandai Namco), 5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Nintendo), 3. One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 - Nami ni Yureru Hihou (Bandai), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. Wii Sports (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play (EA Sports), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit continue to lead among Wii chart contenders this week in North America. The popularity of the difficult-to-find Wii Fit recently led to an increase in Amazon presale demand for the upcoming Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009, while Bandai Namco's exercise mat-bundled Active Life: Outdoor Challenge returns to the charts this week at fourth place. Elsewhere, Wii Fit surpasses demand for last week's Japanese sales leader Disaster: Day of Crisis, as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play nearly eclipses Wii Play's performance in its first week on UK store shelves. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Rock Band 2 (MTV Games), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Raiden IV (Moss), 2. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 3. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 4. The Idolm@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Bethesda). UK: 1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Ubisoft), 5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar). Rock Band 2 again leads Xbox 360 software sales in North America, followed closely by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Lego Batman hangs on to its spot at third place, meanwhile, as the recently released Silent Hill: Homecoming finishes just outside of the weekly top five. In Japan, last week's first-place debut Janline disappears suddenly from the regional top five in favor of the just-released Raiden IV and several entries in the budget-priced Xbox 360 Platinum Collection lineup. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. Silent Hill: Homecoming (Konami), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision). Japan: 1. Aquanaut's Holiday (SCEI), 2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Bethesda), 3. Cross Edge (Compile Heart), 4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Special Edition (Konami), 5. Afrika (SCEI). UK: 1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Play TV (SCEA), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Ubisoft). Star Wars: The Force Unleashed continues to trump the weekly sales numbers of Metal Gear Solid 4 in North America this week. Konami's Silent Hill: Homecoming charts at fourth place in its premiere week, though the PS3 edition of Lego Batman has fallen out of the top five after a promising debut last week. Aquanaut's Holiday tops PS3 sales results for the second week running in Japan, as The Force Unleashed and the recently released Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 head sales in Europe. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games). Japan: 1. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special (Koei), 2. Super Robot Taisen Z (Banpresto), 3. Hokuouki (Idea Factory), 4. Hokuouki -- Limited Edition (Idea Factory), 5. Jikkyou Powerful Major League 3 (Konami). UK: 1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 3. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 4. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 5. Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots (THQ). Former chart hits Yakuza 2 and SingStar Pop Vol. 2 disappear from this week's top PS2 sales results in North America, as Lego Batman, The Force Unleashed, and Madden NFL 09 lead overall numbers for the week. A discounted Guitar Hero III returns to the top five at fourth place, meanwhile, as demand for Rock Band wanes in favor of its anticipated sequel. This week's debuting Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special tops Japanese sales, while last week's sales leader Super Robot Taisen Z slips to second place. Both editions of Hokuouki hold steady at third and fourth place, as Konami's Jikkyou Powerful Major League 3 takes fifth in its premiere week. PC North America: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (EA Games), 3. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2K Games), 4. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning -- Collector's Edition (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: Apartment Life (EA Games). Japan: 1. Zwei II -- Limited Edition (Nihon Falcom), 2. Crysis: Warhead (EA Games), 3. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 4. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 3.0 Premium (E-Frontier), 5. The Sims 2: Apartment Life! Data Set (EA Games). UK: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (EA Games), 3. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2K Games), 4. The Sims 2: Apartment Life (EA Games), 5. Crysis: Warhead (EA Games). Spore maintains its sales lead over Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in the United States and the UK this week. The recently released Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization finds another successful sales week as well, while Zwei II beats Crysis: Warhead as this week's top Japanese PC seller. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo), 2. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Activision), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo), 5. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.). Japan: 1. Pocket Monsters Platinum (Nintendo), 2. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo), 3. KORG DS-10 (AQ Interactive), 4. World Destruction: Michibi Kareshi Ishi (Sega), 5. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 5. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Activision). Following a second-place debut last week, Nintendo's Kirby Super Star Ultra jumps up to take first in this week's North American Nintendo DS sales results. Guitar Hero: On Tour trails close behind, as Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir drops to fourth place in favor of renewed interest in New Super Mario Bros. Last week's sales dip for Pocket Monsters Platinum appears to have been temporary, as the title has since returned to the top of Japan's chart. Rhythm Tengoku Gold follows at second place, while KORG DS-10 jumps up several spots to take third. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (SCEA), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 2. To LoveRu Trouble: Doki Doki! Rinkaigakkou-Hen -- Limited Edition (Marvelous), 3. Ikki Tousen: Eloquent Fist -- Limited Edition (Marvelous), 4. Ikki Tousen: Eloquent Fist (Marvelous), 5. Phantasy Star Portable (Sega). UK: 1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (D3 Publisher), 4. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision), 5. Need for Speed: ProStreet (EA Games). A discount in price places Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow at the top of this week's North American PSP sales results at Amazon. Demand for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Lego Batman still runs high, while Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories round out the regional top five. The Marvelous-published adventure title To LoveRu Trouble: Doki Doki! Rinkaigakkou-Hen debuts strong in this week's Japanese PSP sales results, but comes up short against the reigning chart champion Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. Ikki Tousen: Eloquent Fist also sees a successful premiere week, while Phantasy Star Portable drops to fifth place.