Saling The World: Lich King Tops Cross-Platform Charts Worldwide

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 November 13th, 2008, find the recently released World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King dominating sales across all platforms in the United States and Europe. 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. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Wii Music (Nintendo), 5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Shape Boxing: Wii de Enjoy Diet! (Rocket Company), 3. Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard (Namco), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. Wii Music (Nintendo). UK: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 5. FIFA 09 All-Play (EA Sports). Wii Fit finishes as this week's top-selling Wii title in North America, following a brief window of availability at Amazon. All available stock has since sold out completely, however, and the title is likely to remain a difficult find throughout the holiday season. Wii Play also sees a sales rebound in the United States this week, while Wii Music drops to fourth place. Elsewhere, Wii Fit overtakes Shape Boxing in Japan, as Mario Kart Wii takes another first-place victory in the UK. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 5. Fable II (Microsoft). Japan: 1. FIFA 09 World Soccer (EA Sports), 2. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom), 4. The Idolm@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 5. Lost Odyssey -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Square Enix). UK: 1. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 2. Fable II (Microsoft), 3. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Fallout 3 (Bethesda). The just-released Call of Duty: World at War edges past Gears of War 2 as this week's best-selling Xbox 360 game in North America. Both titles are likely to wage a continuing sales war in the coming weeks, and should provide ample competition for anticipated upcoming releases like Left 4 Dead and The Last Remnant. Halo 3 moves up to third place in this week's U.S. results, meanwhile, as the just-released Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts finishes outside the top five at sixth place. In Europe, Gears of War 2 debuts this week to dethrone to multi-week sales champion FIFA 09, while the just-released Japanese version of FIFA 09 comes out on top in regional results. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. LittleBigPlanet (SCEA), 3. Resistance 2 (SCEA), 4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 5. Valkyria Chronicles (Sega). Japan: 1. Samurai Dou 3 (Spike), 2. FIFA Soccer 09 (EA Sports), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom), 4. Resistance 2 (SCEI), 5. LittleBigPlanet (SCEI). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 3. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 4. MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (SCEE), 5. Quantum of Solace (Activision). LittleBigPlanet surpasses the popularity of last week's North American PS3 sales leader Resistance 2, but both titles ultimately come up short against the premiering Call of Duty: World at War. Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 also manages a surprisingly strong showing in its debut week, finishing fourth in this week's U.S. results. Spike's Samurai Dou 3 premieres as this week's top PS3 seller in Japan, while in the UK, FIFA 09 maintains its lead over all competing titles. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 4. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 (THQ), 5. Eternal Poison (Atlus). Japan: 1. Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou -- Plus (Atlus), 2. Tales of the Abyss -- PlayStation 2 the Best (Namco), 3. D.Gray-man: Sousha no Shikaku (Konami), 4. Wrestle Angels: Survivor 2 (Tryfirst), 5. Hokuouki (Idea Factory). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 3. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 4. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 (THQ), 5. SingStar Singalong with Disney (SCEE). As demand for the recently released Guitar Hero: World Tour rapidly cools, the peripheral-bundled Rock Band Special Edition moves up to take top honors in this week's PlayStation 2 sales results in North America. Lego Batman is pushed to second place following a chart-topping victory last week, while Atlus' strategy-RPG Eternal Poison premieres this week at fifth place. Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou finishes another week at the top in Japan, as a rereleased Tales of the Abyss takes second place. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 2. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 3. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (EA Games), 4. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 5. World of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard). Japan: 1. Ragnarok Online 6th Anniversary Package (E-Frontier), 2. Ultima Online 11 Shuunen Kinen Item Collection (EA Games), 3. Chaos;Head (Nitro Plus), 4. Clannad: Full Voice (Key), 5. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix). UK: 1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 2. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 3. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA Games), 4. Spore (EA Games), 5. Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft). Though premiering titles like Call of Duty: World of War and Gears of War 2 performed exceptionally well on consoles this week, the World of Warcraft expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King surpasses all competition, emerging as this week's single best-selling title across all platforms in North America and Europe. Given the multi-week chart reign of the previously released expansion The Burning Crusade following its debut last year, Wrath of the Lich King can be expected to remain a top PC seller in both regions for months to come. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Tongari Boushi no Mahou no 365 Nichi (Konami), 2. Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (Nintendo), 3. Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo), 4. Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren DS 2 - Sabaku no Majou (Sega), 5. Pocket Monsters Platinum (Nintendo). UK: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Cooking Guide (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia finishes as the top Nintendo DS seller in its first week of release in North America, surpassing the weekly sales numbers of chart mainstays Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. Brain Age 2 gets pushed out of the regional top five in this week's results, as Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir moves up to take its place. Konami's Tongari Boushi no Mahou no 365 Nichi overtakes Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe in weekly sales numbers in Japan, meanwhile, as Professor Layton stays on top in the UK. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 4. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 5. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 2. Sengoku Efuda Yuugi: Hototogisu Ran (Irem), 3. Chuumon Shiyouze! Oretachi no Sekai (Global A), 4. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida Or 2 (SCEI), 5. Maplus Portable Navi 2 (Edia). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 3. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami), 4. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 (THQ), 5. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision).. A sudden chart reshuffling pushes last week's North American PSP sales leaders Secret Agent Clank and Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow out of chart range, leaving Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to top regional sales. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII also returns to the top five this week, finishing just behind Madden NFL 09 at fifth place. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G again tops weekly PSP sales results in Japan, though Irem's recently released Sengoku Efuda Yuugi: Hototogisu Ran manages a strong second place finish.