Saling The World: Professor Layton Tops North American DS Charts

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 February 14th, 2008, find the recently released Professor Layton and the Curious Village triumphing over tough competition like New Super Mario Bros. and the Brain Age series on the Nintendo DS in North America. 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. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle (Konami), 4. Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge (Conspiracy), 5. Endless Ocean (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Family Ski (Namco), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo). UK: 1. PDC World Championship Darts 2008 (Oxygen), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 4. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo), 5. Carnival Funfair Games (2K Games). The Wii Remote-bundled Wii Play is back on top in the United States this week, after weeks of inconsistent chart performance due to supply shortages at Amazon. Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge also climbs back up into the top five this week, pushing Endless Ocean and Carnival Games out of chart range. In Japan, Dairantou Smash Brothers X finishes at the top for the third week in a row, while in Europe, the recently debuted PDC World Championship Darts 2008 outpaces all chart competition. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 5. Halo 3 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 3. The IdolM@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 4. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008 (THQ Japan), 5. Dead Rising / Gears of War -- Xbox 360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom/Microsoft). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 5. Gears of War (Microsoft). Despite strong initial sales, Turok and Devil May Cry 4 fail to appear among North America's top Xbox 360 software sellers in only their second week of release. Japan also sees Devil May Cry 4 falter slightly, with Call of Duty 4 overtaking the top spot after falling to second place last week. The just-released Lost Odyssey debuts at second place in the United States, meanwhile, as a discounted Assassin's Creed continues to pick up steam. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Stranglehold -- Collector's Edition (Midway), 4. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 5. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games). Japan: 1. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 -- First Print Limited Edition (Nippon Ichi), 4. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008 (THQ Japan), 5. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 (Nippon Ichi). UK: 1. Burnout Paradise (EA Games), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEE), 4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). A sale-priced Assassin's Creed sees a first-place finish in Amazon's weekly PS3 sales results in North America. A similar discount for the Collector's Edition of Stranglehold places the title back among the PS3's weekly top sellers as well. Devil May Cry 4 sees a better sales week on the PS3 than the Xbox 360, meanwhile, though demand seems to be falling quickly on both platforms in the United States. Japan, on the other hand, still sees Devil May Cry 4 on top, with Disgaea 3 and WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008 also pushing big numbers. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 5. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision). Japan: 1. eb!Kore + Kimikiss Special Edition (Enterbrain), 2. Poison Pink (Banpresto), 3. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi -- Limited Edition (Banpresto), 4. Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut -- Premium Box (Namco), 5. Lucky * Star -- DX Pack (Kadokawa Shoten). UK: 1. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 3. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008 (THQ), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (D3 Publisher). Rock Band and Guitar Hero take over this week's PS2 sales chart in North America, with the Special Edition of Rock Band currently leading in sales over four different editions of Guitar Hero. Even the critically panned Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s continues to see impressive sales numbers at Amazon more than six months after its initial release. Japan, meanwhile, sees the recently released adventure title eb!Kore + Kimikiss Special Edition top the PS2 charts in its first week of release, followed by Banpresto's latest strategy RPG, Poison Pink. PC North America: 1. The Orange Box (EA Games), 2. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. The Sims: Castaway Stories (EA Games), 5. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition (EA Games). Japan: 1. Winning Post 7: Maximum 2008 (Koei), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Final Fantasy XI: Altana no Kamihei (Square Enix), 4. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 5. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 01 -- Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media). UK: 1. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 2. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. The Orange Box (EA Games), 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard). After leaving North America's chart briefly in previous weeks, The Orange Box takes top honors in this week's results after a "Deal of the Day" price drop at Amazon. Price drops also bring The Sims: Castaway Stories and SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition back into chart territory. Among retail-priced software, the recently released Sins of a Solar Empire manages to triumph over Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and could prove to be a strong chart contender in future weeks as well. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season (Konami), 2. Takahashi Shoten Kanshuu: Saihinshutsu! SPI Perfect Mondaishuu (Genki), 3. Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi (Square Enix), 4. Otometeki Koi Kakumei * Love Revo!! DS (Interchannel-Holon), 5. Houkago Shounen (Konami). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 3. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 4. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 5. Sight Training (Nintendo). Positive critical buzz and widespread word-of-mouth recommendations appear to have worked heavily in favor of Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which debuts to a first-place chart finish in North America this week. It remains to be seen whether this buzz will continue to drive sales of Professor Layton in future weeks, however, as the similarly acclaimed Advance Wars: Days of Ruin fell out of North America's top five entirely within one week of a first-place sales debut. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Wipeout Pulse (SCEA), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabou - Axis no Kyoui (Bandai), 2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 3. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 4. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku -- Limited Edition (Bandai), 5. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix). UK: 1. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 5. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEE). While sales of North American PSP software have stabilized and chart results have become predictable from week to week, Amazon shows a customer shift toward presales for upcoming anticipated releases. God of War: Chains of Olympus leads in preorder sales among soon-to-be-released PSP software, followed closely by Square Enix's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Sony's budget-priced rhythm-action title Patapon.