Saling The World: NBA 2K9 Tops Competition 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 October 9th, 2008, find NBA 2K9 leading over its basketball sim competitors in its first week of release in North America, while Macross Ace Frontier and Super Robot Taisen Z lead 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. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 5. Active Life Outdoor Challenge (Bandai Namco). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 3. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 4. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Nintendo), 5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). UK: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Family Trainer: Outdoor Challenge (Bandai Namco), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. FIFA 09 (EA Sports). Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl return to North America's Wii chart this week following drops in price at Amazon. Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit still lead overall sales, meanwhile, as Bandai Namco's Active Life Outdoor Challenge hangs on at fifth place. One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 - Nami ni Yureru Hihou drops out of the Japanese top five as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed moves in, while the recently released Disaster: Day of Crisis falls to fourth place in regional Wii sales. Xbox 360 North America: 1. NBA 2K9 (2K Sports), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Rock Band 2 (MTV Games), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 2. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 3. Infinite Undiscovery (Square Enix), 4. Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (Koei), 5. Chikyuu Boueigun 3 (D3 Publisher). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). 2K Sports' NBA 2K9 proves to be the most popular of this week's debuting basketball sims in North America, topping Xbox 360 software sales and outpacing the performance of EA's NBA Live 09, which fails to place in the regional top five. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed moves up a spot in this week's results, meanwhile, pushing Rock Band 2 down to third place. Elsewhere, Tales of Vesperia returns to the 360's top spot in Japan, while FIFA 09 leads sales in its debut week in the UK. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. NBA 2K9 (2K Sports), 4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 5. Iron Man (Sega). Japan: 1. Aquanaut's Holiday (SCEI), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Special Edition (Konami), 3. Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi -- Limited Edition (Aqua Plus), 4. Afrika (SCEI), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Bethesda). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports), 3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (SCEE). NBA 2K9 also makes a big debut on the PlayStation 3 this week, taking third in overall platform sales in North America. NBA Live 09 places within Amazon's top 25 PS3 sellers in its first week of release, while the retailer reports that Sony's NBA 09: The Inside finishes outside the console's top 100. Japan's PS3 sales results find Aquanaut's Holiday leading platform sales for the second week in a row. Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi returns to the Japanese top five following a discount in price, while Afrika jumps up a place over a rereleased The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 2. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 3. God of War II (SCEA), 4. Shadow of the Colossus (SCEA), 5. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games). Japan: 1. Super Robot Taisen Z (Banpresto), 2. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special (Koei), 3. Hokuouki (Idea Factory), 4. Persona 4 (Atlus), 5. Hokuouki -- Limited Edition (Idea Factory). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 4. SingStar Summer Party (SCEE), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). Demand for the upcoming release of Atlus' Persona 4 reaches new heights this week, as the title's Amazon-exclusive Social Link Expansion Pack currently leads presales across all platforms in North America. Lego Batman continues to head sales among currently available PS2 titles, with Madden NFL 09 and God of War II trailing close behind. Super Robot Taisen Z recovers in this week's Japanese results after being beaten last week by Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special, while Persona 4 and Hokuouki still boast impressive sales several weeks after their initial release. PC North America: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (Her Interactive), 3. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (EA Games), 4. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2K Games), 5. The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft (Dreamcatcher). Japan: 1. Crysis: Warhead (EA Games), 2. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 3. Zwei II -- Limited Edition (Nihon Falcom), 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. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Ubisoft), 3. The Sims 2: Apartment Life (EA Games), 4. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2K Games), 5. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (EA Games). Her Interactive's recently released Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy sees fast sales in its debut week in North America, finishing second only to Spore in regional PC results. Fellow adventure title The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft also sees strong sales following a recent debut, while Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization remain consistent sellers in both the United States and the UK. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts), 2. Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Activision). Japan: 1. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo), 2. Pocket Monsters Platinum (Nintendo), 3. KORG DS-10 (AQ Interactive), 4. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (Nintendo), 5. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 3. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 4. Mahjongg DS (Deep Silver), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). A discount in price at Amazon leads to a surge in sales for Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga in North America this week, resulting in the title pushing last week's sales champion Kirby Super Star Ultra out of the regional top spot. Guitar Hero: On Tour falls to fifth place after finishing second last week, while Mario Kart DS returns to the top five after a short absence. Rhythm Tengoku Gold and Pocket Monsters Platinum continue to wage a close war in Japanese Nintendo DS sales, meanwhile, with Rhythm Tengoku emerging victorious in this week's results after a narrow defeat last week. KORG DS-10 follows at third, while DS Bimoji Training returns after several months' absence at fifth place. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 4. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 5. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Macross Ace Frontier (Bandai), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 3. Phantasy Star Portable (Sega), 4. To LoveRu Trouble: Doki Doki! Rinkaigakkou-Hen -- Limited Edition (Marvelous), 5. Samurai Dou Portable (Spike). UK: 1. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 5. Football Manager Handheld 2008 (Sega). Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII's long run as North America's top weekly PSP seller appears to have come to an end, as the title finishes fifth this week while Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories top regional platform sales. Lego Batman finishes fourth in this week's results, as God of War: Chains of Olympus returns to the chart at third place. The recently released Macross Ace Frontier leads PSP software sales numbers in Japan, and ranks high among the week's biggest sellers across all platforms. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G drops to second place, while Phantasy Star Portable finishes third.