Saling The World: Madden NFL 08 Tops Multiplatform Sales in Debut Week

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 August 16th, 2007, feature sales leadership for the just-released Madden NFL 08 across a majority of platforms in the United States. 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 Play (Nintendo), 2. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 3. Mario Strikers Charged (Nintendo), 4. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 3. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 4. Forever Blue (Nintendo), 5. BioHazard 4: Wii Edition (Capcom). UK: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney Interactive), 3. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo), 4. Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Nintendo), 5. Wii Play (Nintendo). While the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 versions of Madden NFL 08 outpace Wii Play's sales this week, the Nintendo Wii version of EA's newest football sim barely misses the top Wii sales position in its debut week. A drop in price for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End results in a chart boost for the title in Europe, meanwhile, and the recently released UK version of Trauma Center: Second Opinion also performs well. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 4. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports), 5. Viva Pinata (Microsoft). Japan: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Spike), 2. Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Namco), 3. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 4. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 5. Gears of War (Microsoft). UK: 1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 2. The Darkness (2K Games), 3. Gears of War (Microsoft), 4. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 5. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games). The Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL 08 comes out on top as the single best-selling version of the game in its first week of release, and handily trumps all competing software across all platforms in this week's U.S. sales results. At the back of the pack, Viva Pinata stages a mild sales resurgence, ranking in at fifth place in sales thanks to a recent universal price drop to $19.99. Business remains the same as usual in Japan and the UK, however, with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Rainbow Six Vegas topping each region's respective charts. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 3. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda), 5. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Minna no Golf 5 (SCEI), 2. Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (SCEI), 3. Call of Duty 3 (Spike), 4. Gundam Musou (Bandai), 5. Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Activision). UK: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 2. MotorStorm (SCEE), 3. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 4. Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega), 5. Ridge Racer 7 (SCEE). Despite criticism stemming from its lacking graphical performance in comparison to its Xbox 360 counterpart, the PlayStation 3 port of Madden NFL 08 performs admirably in its first week on store shelves. Madden on PS3 places third in sales among all available versions in this week's results, as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 ports prove to be stronger sales competitors. Future weeks could bring a shuffling in popularity, however, as PS3-owning football fans seem eager thus far to pick up the latest Madden in droves. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (Atlus), 3. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 4. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 5. God of War II (SCEA). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System (Square Enix), 2. Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection (Konami), 3. J.League Winning Eleven 2007 Club Championship (Konami), 4. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri (Alchemist), 5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas -- Best Price (Capcom). UK: 1. SingStar '90s (SCEE), 2. Transformers: The Game (Activision), 3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 4. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 5. SingStar Pop Hits (SCEE). A short few days after its release, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 manages an impressive second-place finish in PS2 sales in the United States. Atlus's underdog hit Odin Sphere found similar success upon its release in May, and though Madden NFL 08 tops this week's list overall, Persona 3 boasts enough pre-release anticipation and positive buzz to ensure a place in the top five for weeks to come. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 2. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games), 3. Battlefield 2 (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 5. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Little Busters! (KEY), 2. Fushigi no Dungeon: Furai no Shiren Gaiden: Onna Kenshi Asuka Kenzan! For Windows (ChunSoft), 3. Monster Hunter Frontier (Capcom), 4. Heart no Kuni no Alice: Wonderful Wonder World (QuinRose), 5. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games). UK: 1. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 2. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 3. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games), 4. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 5. Medieval II: Total War (Sega). Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword falls to a second-place finish in weekly sales in the United States for the first time since its release last month, as World of Warcraft once again finds itself at the region's top position. The title continues to slip in Europe as well, with The Sims 2 and Football Manager 2007 achieving superior sales. EA's Battlefield 2 sees a sales resurgence this week in the United States, however, following a reduction in price to $9.99 at Amazon. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (Natsume), 4. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 5. High School Musical: Makin' the Cut (Disney Interactive). Japan: 1. Ganbaru Watashi no Kakei Diary (Nintendo), 2. Facening de Hyoujou Yutaka ni Inshou Up: Otona no DS Kao Training (Nintendo), 3. Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei (Nintendo), 4. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 5. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke (Nintendo). UK: 1. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 5. Cooking Mama (505 Games). After weeks of slowly flagging sales performance in the face of competition from its sister title Pokemon Diamond, Pokemon Pearl rises up to top this week's Nintendo DS sales chart in the United States. The sudden sales boost comes as a result of a recent Amazon "Deal of the Day" promotional reduction in cost, though Pearl's price has since risen back up to MSRP, and its popularity is expected to drop soon after. In other U.S. news, Natsume's Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon makes a surprisingly strong debut in the U.S. this week, with series fans showing greater than expected anticipation for the franchise's latest spinoff title. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (Atari), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 5. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 (SCEA). Japan: 1. Lumines -- PSP the Best (Bandai), 2. Snow Portable (Prototype), 3. Wild ARMs: Crossfire (SCEI), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney Interactive). The PSP chart in the United States sees major shakeups this week, as recent sales champs like Lumines and Brave Story are nowhere to be seen in the wake of Madden NFL 08 and Dungeons & Dragons Tactics. The success of D&D Tactics arrives unexpectedly, as Amazon reports that the title has sold out shortly after its release, and a restock isn't expected to arrive until next week. Whether the game can maintain this success in future weeks is currently unknown, though this development remains an exciting one for the often stagnant worldwide PSP charts.