Saling The World: Mario, Assassin's Clash for U.S. Sales Leadership

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 November 15th, 2007, show Super Mario Galaxy debuting to stellar sales in North America, while Assassin's Creed ranks high in the U.S. and in the UK. 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 Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Konami), 5. High School Musical: Sing It! Bundle (Disney). Japan: 1. BioHazard: Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom), 2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. Ghost Squad (Sega), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Square Enix). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 3. Carnival Funfair Games (2K Games), 4. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 5. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo). Super Mario Galaxy trumps all competition on the Wii and elsewhere in its debut week, emerging as the week's best-selling title across all platforms in North America. A recent restocking also brings Guitar Hero III back into the sales fray, with Amazon reporting vastly improved sales numbers now that buyers are no longer at the mercy of the third-party markup prices suffered in previous weeks. Given Guitar Hero III's high level of demand, however, this new stock may once again run dry as the holidays approach. Meanwhile, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles fails to chart in its first week of U.S. release, though it takes top honors in Japan, outselling Super Mario Galaxy and many other popular titles. Xbox 360 North America: 1. BioShock (2K Games), 2. The Darkness (2K Games), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Ace Combat 6: Kaihou e no Senka (Namco), 2. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei), 3. The Idol M@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 4. Dead Rising / Gears of War -- Xbox 360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom / Microsoft), 5. Gears of War (Microsoft). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts). A promotional offer that packs BioShock and The Darkness together in a discounted bundle proves difficult to resist for Xbox 360 owners in North America, as both titles come out on top in this week's sales results. Even the just-released Assassin's Creed and last week's sales leader Call of Duty 4 are unable to best the pair in weekly sales, though both are likely to recover once the offer expires. The upcoming release of Mass Effect and Rock Band should ensure that next week's sales data should be particularly interesting, as the results could likely predict the biggest sales winners over the holiday season. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (SCEA), 5. Assassin's Creed: Limited Edition (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei), 2. Ratchet & Clank Future (SCEI), 3. Heavenly Sword (SCEI), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Spike), 5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft). UK: 1. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCEE), 4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts). Assassin's Creed debuts to take the top spot in this week's PS3 sales results in North America and the UK, with Call of Duty 4 trailing close behind. Meanwhile, Amazon reports a shortage of stock for the PS3 bundled version of Guitar Hero III, and aftermarket prices already have seen a sharp increase as a result. A similar phenomenon affects the limited edition release of Assassin's Creed, which can now only be purchased through affiliated third-party sellers at inflated prices in the U.S. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (Agetec), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 4. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 5. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision). Japan: 1. Soukou Kihei Votoms (Bandai Namco), 2. Clannad (Interchannel), 3. Hayarikami 2 (Nihon Falcom), 4. God of War -- Best Price (Capcom), 5. Street Fighter Zero: Fighter's Generation -- Best Price (Capcom). UK: 1. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 2. High School Musical: Sing It! (Disney), 3. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 4. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami). This week sees a surprisingly forceful sales start for the just-released Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, which manages to surpass chart mainstays Madden NFL 08 and Guitar Hero II in weekly sales. The long-running Fire Pro series has spawned a cult following among wrestling sim fans in the United States, despite the fact that the majority of the series has never seen North American release. Returns is proving to be surprisingly popular thus far in Amazon's PS2 rankings, and far surpasses fellow recent budget release The King of Fighters XI, which fails to appear in this week's top five despite strong presales in the weeks prior. PC North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Crysis (EA Games), 3. The Orange Box (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2: Teen Style Stuff (EA Games), 5. Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull (Her Interactive). Japan: 1. Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 2. Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (Microsoft), 3. Phantasy Star Universe: Illuminus no Yabou (Sega), 4. Lineage II: First Throne (NC Japan), 5. Heart no Kuni no Alice: Wonderful Wonder World (QuinRose). UK: 1. Crysis (EA Games), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 4. The Orange Box (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games). Call of Duty 4 holds its ground as North America's best-selling PC title for the second week running. The recently released Crysis provides strong competition, but finishes in second place overall. Crysis fares much better in the UK, however, and leads as this week's top-selling European PC release. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age (Nintendo), 3. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou (Bandai Namco), 2. Mario Party DS (Nintendo), 3. Pro Yakyuu Famista DS (Namco), 4. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (Tecmo), 5. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 3. Cooking Mama (505 Games), 4. High School Musical: Makin' the Cut (Disney), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass recovers slightly after falling to fourth place in DS sales last week, while Flash Focus falls out of the top five in favor of a resurgence in sales for Pokemon Diamond. In Japan, the TV series-based Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou arrives to take first place in weekly DS sales. The Game Center CX series itself has won many fans both in Japan and elsewhere in the world thanks to its unique focus on retrogaming culture, and the DS adaptation appears to be gaining fast worldwide popularity as well. Whether Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou can withstand competition from the extremely popular Mario Party DS in future weeks is uncertain, however, as Mario Party DS currently eclipses the weekly sales of the recently released Super Mario Galaxy, and shows no sign of slowing down in the near future. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 3. Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (Konami), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Silent Hill: Origins (Konami). Japan: 1. Anata o Yurusanai (AQ Interactive), 2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 3. Dungeon Explorer: Meiyaku no Tobira (Hudson), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 5. Akumajou Dracula X Chronicle (Konami). UK: 1. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (D3 Publisher), 5. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ). North America's PSP bestseller chart sees a thorough reshuffling this week, as last week's sales champions Silent Hill: Origins and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles fall in popularity while former chart leaders Madden NFL 08 and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions find themselves back at the top. This shift could be due to an increase of holiday shoppers at Amazon who come in search of the year's most popular PSP releases, leaving recent hits as a secondary concern. In Japan, meanwhile, newcomer Anata o Yurusanai emerges as the week's top-selling PSP title, with fellow debut Dungeon Explorer: Meiyaku no Tobira finishing in third place.