Saling The World: Pokemon, FFVII Take Over Japanese Charts 2

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 September 13th, 2007, feature cross-platform sales leadership for the just-released Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and two new editions of Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon 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. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo), 3. Carnival Games (Global Star), 4. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 5. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom). Japan: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 3. Forever Blue (Nintendo), 4. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 5. Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Square Enix). UK: 1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (EA Sports), 2. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Boogie (EA Games), 5. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo). Wii Play jumps back up to the top Wii sales spot in the United States after being beaten in previous weeks by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and a discounted Rayman Raving Rabbids. Surprisingly, Global Star's budget-priced Carnival Games finishes as one of the week's best performers, following a strong debut last week. Copies are currently in short supply at Amazon, and Carnival Games stands poised to be a top seller throughout September. Xbox 360 North America: 1. BioShock (2K Games), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Medal of Honor: Airborne (EA Games), 4. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 5. NHL 08 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Musou Orochi (Koei), 2. Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Namco), 3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Spike), 4. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 5. Hitman: Blood Money (Spike). UK: 1. BioShock (2K Games), 2. Medal of Honor: Airborne (EA Games), 3. Stranglehold (Midway), 4. Two Worlds (SouthPeak), 5. BioShock -- Limited Edition (2K Games). Demand for the Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL 08 falls sharply in this week's sales results. Madden's initial sales rush appears to have slacked considerably in the month following its release, and the title could find itself out of the weekly top five in a matter of weeks. In its place, Medal of Honor: Airborne continues to pick up steam in sales, while Gears of War sees a sudden spike in interest that pushes it in close proximity to current leader BioShock. Meanwhile, Japan sees a new top seller in Musou Orochi, which is so far proving to be as popular a choice on the Xbox 360 as it was on the PlayStation 2. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Heavenly Sword (SCEA), 2. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 3. Warhawk (SCEA), 4. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 5. Lair (SCEA). Japan: 1. Blade Storm: Hyakunen Sensou (Koei), 2. Minna no Golf 5 (SCEI), 3. Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (SCEI), 4. Megazone 23: Aoi Garland (Compile Heart), 5. FolksSoul: Ushinawareta Denshou (SCEI). UK: 1. Heavenly Sword (SCEE), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 3. MotorStorm (SCEE), 4. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft). While sales for the Xbox 360 port of Madden NFL 08 fall in favor of more recent releases, the PlayStation 3 version finishes high in this week's results, second only to the just-released Heavenly Sword. Despite strong sales last week, however, Lair now finds itself at the bottom of the U.S. top five, and is likely to disappear from the chart entirely as soon as next week. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 2. .hack//G.U. vol. 3//Redemption (Namco Bandai), 3. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 4. God of War II (SCEA), 5. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision). Japan: 1. A.C.E. Another Century's Episode 3 The Final (Banpresto), 2. Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection (Konami), 3. Jissen Pachinko Hisshouhou! CR Sakura Taisen (Sega), 4. God of War -- Best Price (Capcom), 5. Dear My Sun!! -- Limited Edition (D3 Publisher). UK: 1. Rugby 08 (EA Sports), 2. SingStar '90s (SCEE), 3. Transformers: The Game (Activision), 4. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (Square Enix), 5. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix). .hack//G.U. vol. 3//Redemption debuts to fast sales in the days following its release, as RPG fans appear eager to experience the final game in the trilogy. Whether Redemption will prove to have the chart staying power exhibited by the recent RPG hit Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 remains to be seen, but given the .hack series' popularity, another weekly top-five finish is likely. PC North America: 1. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games), 2. Medal of Honor: Airborne (EA Games), 3. BioShock (2K Games), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard). Japan: 1. Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 2. Nobunaga no Yabou: Kakushin -- Power-Up Kit (Koei), 3. Nobunaga no Yabou: Kakushin with Power-Up Kit (Koei), 4. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 5. Fushigi no Dungeon: Furai no Shiren Gaiden: Onna Kenshi Asuka Kenzan! For Windows -- Best Price Edition (ChunSoft). UK: 1. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (EA Games), 2. Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (Sega), 3. Medal of Honor: Airborne (EA Games), 4. BioShock (2K Games), 5. The Sims 2 (EA Games). This week's PC charts remain relatively unchanged in an uneventful week in all regions. This stands in stark contrast to the weeks prior, wherein The Sims 2: Bon Voyage and Medal of Honor: Airborne shook up what was an otherwise stagnant chart from week to week. Activity could resume in coming weeks, however, following the release of anticipated titles like World in Conflict and The Orange Box. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Yami no Tankentai (Nintendo), 3. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! (Namco), 4. Chuugaku Eitango Target 1800 DS (IE Institute), 5. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo). UK: 1. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 5. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo). This week's U.S. Nintendo DS results mirror last week's exactly, though more activity can be observed in Japan's chart. Both Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai and Yami no Tankentai debut to take the top two positions on the region's chart, with Toki no Tankentai proving to be the more popular version thus far. Though the initial pair of Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon games only achieved moderate sales upon their release in the United States (as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team), the series is much more popular in Japan, and both Toki no Tankentai and Yami no Tankentai should maintain places in the region's top five for weeks to come. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Jeanne D'Arc (SCEA), 2. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 3. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 4. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 (SCEA), 5. Daxter (SCEA). Japan: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. Fate/Tiger Colosseum -- Limited Edition (Capcom), 3. Fate/Tiger Colosseum (Capcom), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 5. Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC (Nihon Falcom). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play (Codemasters), 4. Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (Capcom), 5. Transformers: The Game (Activision). Monster Hunter Freedom 2 falls suddenly out of the U.S. top five this week after a first-place finish in the week prior, as the title has since sold out at Amazon and is awaiting a restock. Jeanne D'Arc is more than willing to take the top PSP spot in the meantime, after having sales leadership narrowly stolen by competing titles on a weekly basis since its initial release. In Japan, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII debuts to top sales for all available titles across all platforms, and is expected to perform equally well in the coming weeks.