Saling The World: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Leads Xbox 360 Sales in U.S. and UK

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 March 20th, 2008, see Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 debut to chart-topping sales in North America and the UK. 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. MLB Power Pros (2K Sports), 2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Deca Sporta (Hudson), 3. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Family Ski (Namco). UK: 1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 2. Carnival Funfair Games (2K Games), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (EA Sports). MLB Power Pros makes a return to this week's Wii sales chart in North America. Amazon reports that the title finished as the week's top U.S. software seller across all platforms, thanks to an especially popular "Deal of the Day" promotional price drop. Super Smash Bros. Brawl trails close behind, and will likely return as the region's top weekly seller next week. In Japan, Hudson's olympic sports title Deca Sporta debuts at second place, while Metroid Prime 3: Corruption slips out of the top five. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 5. Army of Two (EA Games). Japan: 1. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software), 2. Army of Two (EA Games), 3. Skate (EA Games), 4. The Idolm@ster: Live for You! (Namco), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). UK: 1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Bully: Scholarship Edition (Rockstar), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). The just-released Xbox 360 port of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 ranks as this week's third-best software seller across all platforms in the United States, falling just behind MLB Power Pros and Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Nintendo Wii. The title also performs well in Europe, earning the region's top 360 sales spot. While EA's Army of Two falls to the bottom of North America's top five despite a relatively recent first-place debut, the game performs well in the days following its launch in Japan, where 360 sales are headed by the mech combat sequel Armored Core: For Answer. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 3. NBA 2K8 (2K Games), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. MLB 08: The Show (SCEA). Japan: 1. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software), 2. Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (Sega), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Army of Two (EA Games), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). UK: 1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 4. Burnout Paradise (EA Games), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 makes a strong debut on the PlayStation 3 this week, though the Xbox 360 version emerges as the bigger seller of the two in the title's first week of release in both the U.S. and the UK. Vegas 2 sees tough competition in its debut week in both regions from Call of Duty 4, which remains a big seller on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 months after its initial release. Elsewhere, Japan's multi-week sales champion Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! drops to second place in favor of Armored Core: For Answer, as the Japanese version of Guitar Hero III sneaks in a top five finish despite low initial sales. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 4. SingStar '90s (SCEA), 5. God of War (SCEA). Japan: 1. Lucky * Star -- DX Pack (Kadokawa Shoten), 2. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi -- Limited Edition (Banpresto), 3. Poison Pink (Banpresto), 4. Gundam Musou Special (Bandai), 5. Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Gaiden (Banpresto). UK: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEE), 4. SingStar '80s (SCEE), 5. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ). The stealth-action series compilation Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection leads this week's North American PS2 software sales chart by a significant margin. Its arrival this week was met with fast sales at Amazon, and given the high number of presales it saw in the weeks leading up to its release, The Essential Collection could find itself among the PS2's top sellers for weeks to come. Japan's charts see the sudden disappearance of last week's sales winner 12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral, while Super Robot Taisen Original Generation Gaiden makes a return following a discount in price. PC North America: 1. The Sims 2: FreeTime (EA Games), 2. Hoyle Card Games 2008 (Encore), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock), 5. The Sims 2 Deluxe (EA Games). Japan: 1. Clannad Full Voice (Key), 2. A Ressha de Ikou 8 (Artdink), 3. The Sims 2: FreeTime! Data Set (EA Games), 4. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 01: Hatsune Miku (Crypton Future Media), 5. Musou Orochi (Koei). UK: 1. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War -- Soulstorm (THQ), 2. The Sims 2: FreeTime (EA Games), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard). The Sims 2: FreeTime remains North America's top-selling PC title, with this week marking a month-long reign at first place for the popular expansion pack. This week also sees a surprising second-place finish for Hoyle Card Games 2008, while the recent Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War -- Soulstorm falls out of the United States' top five for the first time since its release earlier this month. In Japan, meanwhile, the just-released railway simulator sequel A Ressha de Ikou 8 challenges Clannad Full Voice for top honors, but comes up short. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. SimCity DS 2 (EA Games), 2. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo), 3. Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage (Nintendo), 4. Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Taisen - Kimi Arugatame -- All-Star Pack (Sega), 5. Time Hollow: Ubawareta Kako o Motomete (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 (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Professor Layton and the Curious Village keeps its weekly sales numbers high in the United States, earning yet another first-place victory in this week's results. Mario Party DS disappears from the top five as suddenly as it returned with last week's chart, meanwhile, as Mario Kart DS takes over its spot at fifth place. Japan's charts see the recent SimCity DS 2 topping regional sales, with last week's leader DS Bimoji Training finishing at a close second. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 2. Patapon (SCEA), 3. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Tales of Rebirth (Namco), 2. Mugen Kairou (SCEI), 3. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 4. Musou Orochi (Koei), 5. MyStylist -- Camera Bundle (SCEI). UK: 1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 4. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 5. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega). God of War: Chains of Olympus and Patapon once again top this week's PSP software sales in North America. Judging by intensifying preorder demand at Amazon, however, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is poised to finish as next week's top U.S. PSP seller. God of War is unlikely to give up its chart dominance without a fight, and the next few weeks will see a close war waged between the competing titles. Japan finds this week's debuting RPG remake Tales of Rebirth at the top of its chart, while Mugen Kairou (echochrome) also manages impressive sales upon its initial release.