Saling The World: Rock Band Tops Guitar Hero III on 360 & PS3

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 real-time sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from January 10th, 2008, show a restocked Rock Band currently outselling the bundled Guitar Hero III in sales across multiple platforms. 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. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Carnival Games (2K Games), 4. Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge (Conspiracy), 5. Wii Play (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 3. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 4. Nodame Cantabile: Dream * Orchestra (Bandai Namco), 5. Mario & Sonic at Bejing Olympics (Nintendo). UK: 1. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo), 2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). With Wii Play dwindling in supply after leading the U.S. charts for the last several weeks, Super Mario Galaxy rises up to take its place, with Guitar Hero III and Carnival Games trailing close behind. The budget-priced Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge manages to sneak into this week's top five, meanwhile, as the title currently appears to be the most popular of Conspiracy's Wii lineup. In Japan, the just-released rhythm title Nodame Cantabile: Dream * Orchestra ranks in at fourth place in regional Wii sales, as Big Brain Academy for Wii takes top honors in Europe. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Mass Effect (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Armored Core 4 -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (From Software), 3. The IdolM@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 4. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft), 5. FIFA 08 World Class Soccer (EA Sports). UK: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Special Edition (Activision), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). Amazon's supply of the Rock Band special edition package appears to have steadied, with the title remaining consistently in stock at the retailer over the past week. Its sales numbers spike as a result, while the difficult-to-find Guitar Hero III falls out of the top five. In Japan, Armored Core 4 finishes at second place in weekly sales after recently being re-released as part of the budget-priced Xbox 360 Platinum Collection. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Heavenly Sword (SCEA), 5. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA). Japan: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEI), 3. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei), 4. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami), 5. Armored Core 4 -- The Best Collection (From Software). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 3. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEE), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). A discounted Heavenly Sword finds itself back among the top PS3 sellers in the United States this week, as Call of Duty 4 and Rock Band mirror the sales performances of their Xbox 360 counterparts. In another 360 chart similarity, the PlayStation 3 version of Guitar Hero III also sees a drop in popularity this week, despite an adequate supply of stock. Japanese sales show new demand for Armored Core 4 after a budget reissue, meanwhile, as Gran Turismo 5 Prologue rises up to take second place. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports), 5. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Super Robot Taisen OG Gaiden (Bandai), 2. Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] (Kadokawa Shoten), 3. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami), 4. Clannad (Interchannel), 5. Okami -- PlayStation 2 The Best (Capcom). UK: 1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero (RedOctane), 3. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (D3 Publisher), 4. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). Guitar Hero III sees a much better week on the PlayStation 2 than on any other console. Both editions finish high in this week's sales results, though the bundled version of Guitar Hero II still reigns at the top of the chart. Final Fantasy XII makes a return to the chart after a universal price drop, while Madden NFL 08 is still going strong months after its initial release. Elsewhere, Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] finds a sales resurgence after dropping in price in Japan, as does the discounted UK version of the original Guitar Hero. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft Battlechest (Blizzard), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. The Orange Box (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2 Deluxe (EA Games), 5. Crysis (EA Games). Japan: 1. RPG Tsukuru VX (Enterbrain), 2. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 02: Kagamine Rin/Len (Cripton Future Media), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. Civilization IV Deluxe Pack (Cyber Front), 5. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 02: Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media). UK: 1. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 2. Crysis (EA Games), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. The Sims 2 (EA Games). Crysis and The Orange Box recover after a brief chart absence in the United States, and find their way back into the top five in this week's results. The World of Warcraft Battlechest has won overall weekly sales, meanwhile, and could lead in future weeks if its popularity holds out. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Final Fantasy IV (Square Enix), 2. Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi (Square Enix), 3. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! (Namco), 4. Layton Kyouju to Fushigi na Machi (Level 5), 5. Mario Party DS (Nintendo). UK: 1. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Sight Training (Nintendo), 4. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo), 5. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo). Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. continue to lead North American Nintendo DS sales, while Phantom Hourglass and both Brain Age titles compete for the remaining chart positions. Final Fantasy IV and Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi are back at the top of the charts in Japan, meanwhile, after being displaced briefly by Rune Factory 2 in the week prior. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 3. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai), 4. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 5. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 2. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku -- Limited Edition (Bandai), 3. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku (Bandai), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 5. Star Ocean 1: First Departure (Square Enix). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos), 5. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEE). North American PSP software sales remain relatively unchanged from last week's results, save for the sudden reappearance of Namco Bandai's Tekken: Dark Resurrection. The recently released navigation software sequel Maplus: Portable Navi 2 tops PSP sales in Japan, as both regular and limited editions of the anime-based Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku continue to see strong sales.