Saling The World: Ninja Gaiden Revitalizes NA, UK PS3s

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 July 5th, 2007, feature renewed PlayStation 3 interest in the U.S. and Europe thanks to Ninja Gaiden Sigma, while famed "witch touching simulator" Dokidoki Majo Shinpan! has swept Japanese sales in its first week of release. 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. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 3. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 5. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. BioHazard 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 3. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 4. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race (Nintendo), 5. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo). UK: 1. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). The Nintendo Wii sales charts continue to fluctuate in the United States, with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition once again outselling Mario Party 8 after falling behind last week, though Wii Play manages to fight back and steal first place away from both titles. In other news, the recently released Pokemon Battle Revolution is nowhere to be seen in the U.S. top five after a disappointing debut last week. The game remains an unlikely sell to any but the most hardcore of Pokemon fans, if critical reaction is to be believed, and is just as unlikely to return to the top five in future weeks. Xbox 360 North America: 1. The Darkness (2K Games), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 3. Overlord (Codemasters), 4. Gears of War (Microsoft), 5. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 2. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 3. Saints Row (THQ Japan), 4. Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Microsoft), 5. Bullet Witch -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (AQ Interactive). UK: 1. Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters), 2. The Darkness (2K Games), 3. Overlord (Codemasters), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft). This week marks a steep rise in pre-orders for the upcoming NCAA Football 08, as pre-sales for the title currently outpace sales for all currently available Xbox 360 software in the United States. In Europe, Colin McRae: DiRT surges to the top of the region's chart thanks to a small discount in price at Amazon.co.uk, though the title has since slipped from the U.S. top five. Forza Motorsport 2 remains a strong seller in both regions, though its sales are also starting to slack as weeks pass. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 2. The Darkness (2K Games), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 4. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 5. Transformers: The Game (Activision). Japan: 1. Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (SCEI), 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 3. FolksSoul: Ushinawareta Denshou (SCEI), 4. Call of Duty 3 (Spike), 5. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo). UK: 1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 2. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 4. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega), 5. MotorStorm (SCEE). While sales for its Japanese equivalent continue to slide in the weeks following its debut, the U.S. and UK versions of Ninja Gaiden Sigma rise to the top of their respective sales charts in their first week of release. Japan has so far proven to be much more receptive to the just-released Boku no Natsuyasumi 3, which finishes as one of the week's best-selling Japanese titles across all platforms. With few other competing PS3 titles on the horizon, Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 seems likely to lead in future weeks as well. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 2. God of War (SCEA), 3. Guitar Hero (RedOctane), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos). Japan: 1. Super Robot Taisen Original Generations (Banpresto), 2. Baroque (Sting), 3. Tales of Fandom Vol. 2 -- Luke Version (Namco), 4. Tales of Fandom Vol. 2 -- Tia Version (Namco), 5. Tales of the Abyss -- PlayStation 2 the Best (Namco). UK: 1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 2. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos), 3. Shrek the Third (Activision), 4. SingStar Pop Hits (SCEE), 5. Formula One 06 -- Platinum (SCEE). Rising pre-order interest indicates quickly-building anticipation for the impending release of Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s, as pre-sales for the title come close to matching the weekly sales might of the PS2 Guitar Hero II Bundle this week. In the UK, meanwhile, the PS2 port of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix continues to drive PS2 software sales, while Tomb Raider: Anniversary remains in high demand as well. PC North America: 1. Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek (Atari), 2. The Sims 2: Season (EA Games), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 5. Baldur's Gate II: The Collection (Interplay). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier (Capcom), 2. Eiyuu Densetsu VI: Sora no Kiseki the 3rd (Nihon Falcom), 3. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica Memories White -- First Emotion (Ocelot), 4. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica 3 & 4 (Ocelot), 5. Europa Universalis III (Cyber Front). UK: 1. The Sims 2: H&M Stuff (EA Games), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. Football Manager 2007 (Sega). Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek reclaims its position at the top of the U.S. PC software sales charts this week, after losing out to two different editions of Crazy Machines in the week previous. Crazy Machines' rule atop the charts was curiously short-lived and the title has since suffered a steep fall, finishing at 20th place overall in this week's results. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Dokidoki Majo Shinpan! (SNK Playmore), 2. Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei (Nintendo), 3. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 4. Chikasete! Chibi-Robo! (Nintendo), 5. Miru Chikara o Jissen de Kitaeru: DS Ganryoku Training (Nintendo). UK: 1. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. Cooking Mama (505 Games), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo). Backed by several months of anticipation from Japanese gamers and a significant amount of morbid curiosity on the part of importers elsewhere, SNK's "witch touching simulator" Dokidoki Majo Shinpan! meets with fast sales in its first week of release, and stands out as the week's best-selling title across all platforms in Japan. Even the popular Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei yields to Dokidoki Majo Shinpan!'s might, falling to second place in weekly DS sales. It should be interesting to see which title will come out on top in future weeks, as both possess enough sales potential to ensure a fierce battle. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Lumines (Ubisoft), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition (Square Enix), 4. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 5. Daxter (SCEA). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 2. Ratchet & Clank 5: Gekitotsu! Dodeka Ginga no MiriMiri Gundan (SCEI), 3. Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou (Square Enix), 4. Chuukana Janshi Tenhoo Painyan Remix (Jaleco), 5. Maplus: Portable Navi (Edia). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega), 3. Lumines -- Platinum (Ubisoft), 4. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 5. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega). Now that a homebrew-enabling downgrader application has become available through the well-publicized Lumines exploit, demand has far exceeded supply for the title in the U.S. this week. New copies are no longer available for sale from Amazon, leaving potential buyers at the mercy of third-party sellers. Used copies of Lumines now carry a premium price tag of $40 at minimum from Amazon-affiliated sellers in the United States (and an astounding 16,800 yen in Japan), with prices likely to rise further in the coming weeks.