Saling The World: Orange Box Still Tops, PS3 Cuts Spark Sales

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 18th, 2007, feature cross-platform sales leadership for the PC port of The Orange Box in North America, while hardware price drops spark a jump in PlayStation 3 software sales. 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. Carnival Games (Global Star), 3. Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Konami), 4. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 5. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Square Enix), 2. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 3. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 4. Mario Strikers Charged (Nintendo), 5. Forever Blue (Nintendo). UK: 1. Carnival Funfair Games (2K Games), 2. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo), 3. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (EA Sports), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Games). After spending a month at the top of the Nintendo Wii's U.S. sales chart, Carnival Games falls to second place as Wii Play finds new sales strength. After a recent successful debut in the UK, however, Carnival Funfair Games is likely to remain at the top of Europe's Wii list for weeks to come. Guitar Hero III has the potential to outpace all competing titles upon its North American release next week, however, as Amazon reports that its weekly presale numbers currently outrank the sales of all currently available Wii software. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 2. The Orange Box (EA Games), 3. Halo 3: Limited Edition (Microsoft), 4. Gears of War (Microsoft), 5. Beautiful Katamari (Namco Bandai). Japan: 1. Beautiful Katamari Damacy (Namco), 2. Halo 3: Limited Edition (Microsoft), 3. Operation Darkness (Success), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. Zoids Alternative (Takara Tomy). UK: 1. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 2. The Orange Box (EA Games), 3. Project Gotham Racing 4 (Microsoft), 4. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 5. Gears of War (Microsoft). The budget-priced Beautiful Katamari makes an impressive debut this week, boasting weekly numbers that outperform heavy-hitters like BioShock and FIFA Soccer 08 in the United States. Japanese gamers, meanwhile, place Katamari at the top of the region's chart in its first week of release, past both the regular and limited editions of Halo 3. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 2. FIFA Soccer 08 (EA Sports), 3. Heavenly Sword (SCEA), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- Game of the Year Edition (Bethesda), 5. Folklore (SCEA). Japan: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Spike), 2. Spider-Man 3 (Activision), 3. Rise from Lair (SCEI), 4. Minna no Golf 5 (SCEI), 5. Agarest Senki (Compile Heart). UK: 1. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 3. Heavenly Sword (SCEE), 4. MotorStorm (SCEE), 5. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE). Demand for PlayStation 3 hardware swells in the wake of a recent price drop for the MotorStorm-bundled 80GB configuration, which is now priced at $499.99. New PlayStation 3 owners appear eager to catch up on the most popular of the PS3's back catalogue, leading to a first-place finish for the nearly year-old Resistance: Fall of Man. In Japan, titles previously seen in other regions like Spider-Man 3 and Lair find new sales life in their initial weeks on store shelves, while Oblivion takes the top spot once again. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 2. FIFA Soccer 08 (EA Sports), 3. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 4. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 5. God of War II (SCEA). Japan: 1. Seaman 2: Peking Genjin Ikusei Kit -- Seamike Controller Pack (Sega), 2. Clannad (Interchannel), 3. Arabians Lost: The Engagement on Desert (Prototype), 4. Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection (Konami), 5. Galaxy Angel II: Mugen Kairou no Kagi -- Deluxe Pack (Broccoli). UK: 1. Rugby 08 (EA Sports), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Crash of the Titans (Sierra UK), 4. SingStar Rock Ballads (SCEE), 5. Ratatouille (THQ). As is the case with the Nintendo Wii version, the PlayStation 2 port of the upcoming Guitar Hero III does big preorder business in the week prior to its release, with both the standalone and guitar-bundled versions topping all currently available PS2 software in weekly sales. The bundled Guitar Hero II also sees rising sales as a result. Elsewhere, Seaman 2 rules Japan's chart in its first week of release, following several weeks' worth of high preorder numbers. PC North America: 1. The Orange Box (EA Games), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. Nancy Drew: Legend of Crystal Skull (Her Interactive), 4. Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals (Microsoft), 5. World of Warcraft (Blizzard). Japan: 1. Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 2. Fantasy Earth Zero: Armed Edition (Square Enix), 3. Phantasy Star Universe: Illuminus no Yabou (Sega), 4. Little Busters! (KEY), 5. The Sims 2: Travelers! Data Set (EA Games). UK: 1. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 2. The Orange Box (EA Games), 3. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games), 5. World of Warcraft (Blizzard). A drop in price to $39.99 drives the PC port of The Orange Box up the charts past Halo 3, finishing as this week's best-selling title across all platforms at Amazon. Nancy Drew: Legend of Crystal Skull sees an unexpected dip in sales, meanwhile, thanks to a shortage of stock. The just-released Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals suffers similarly. Both titles should see stronger sales performances in future weeks, once new stock arrives at Amazon. In the UK, meanwhile, Football Manager 2008 debuts as this week's top-selling game across all platforms, and could remain at the top of the PC charts for many future weeks. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Flash Focus (Nintendo), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). Japan: 1. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (Tecmo), 2. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (Nintendo), 3. Tashiten: Tashite 10 ni Suru Monogatari (Nintendo), 4. Banushi Life Game: Winners Circle (Genki), 5. TOEIC Test DS Training (IE Institute). UK: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 4. Cooking Mama (505 Games), 5. Nintendogs: Lab & Friends (Nintendo). Brain Age 2 retakes the top U.S. sales spot this week, forcing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass to finish in second place for the first time since its release earlier this month. This week also sees Nintendo's latest brain training release, Flash Focus, debut to place fourth in North American DS software sales. If Brain Age's continuing success is of any indication, future weeks could place Flash Focus even higher in weekly sales results. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 2. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai), 3. Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (LucasArts), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 (SCEA). Japan: 1. Gundam Battle Chronicle (Bandai), 2. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters GX: Tag Force 2 (Konami), 3. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 4. Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC (Nihon Falcom), 5. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom). UK: 1. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 4. Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (Capcom), 5. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega). Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions continues to top North America's PSP chart, though high presale numbers for the soon-to-be-released Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles indicate that both titles will fight a close battle in next week's sales results. A discounted Tekken: Dark Resurrection sees new chart life, meanwhile, as Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron continues to make sales strides in its second week of release.