Saling The World: Smash Bros, DMC 4 Take Over in Japan

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five real-time Amazon.com 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 January 31st, 2008, find Japan's multiplatform bestseller lists upended following the recent release of big-name hits like Dairantou Smash Brothers X, Devil May Cry 4, and Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 2.0. 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. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 3. Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle (Konami), 4. Endless Ocean (Nintendo), 5. Game Party (Midway). Japan: 1. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Family Ski (Namco), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 3. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (EA Sports), 5. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom). New stock at Amazon pushes the bundled version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock back to the top of the Wii charts in North America this week. The similarly difficult-to-find Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party slips to third place, while preorder interest in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is on the rise in the wake of its recent Japanese debut, which ranked as the week's single best-selling title across all platforms in the region. This debut was met with widespread supply shortages, however, and though Dairantou Smash Brothers X has become the first title to displace the longtime top-seller Wii Fit, future weeks may see spotty sales performances until its supply issues are resolved. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). Japan: 1. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Dead Rising / Gears of War -- Xbox 360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom/Microsoft), 4. The IdolM@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 5. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Burnout Paradise (EA Games). Guitar Hero III once again bests Rock Band in weekly sales on the Xbox 360, as both titles continue to compete for chart dominance. Call of Duty 4 remains at the top, while the recently released Burnout Paradise slides out of chart territory after spending only two weeks on store shelves. The title will likely see a return in future weeks, however, given the popularity of previous entries in the series. In Japan, the recently released Devil May Cry 4 tops Xbox 360 software sales in its first week of release, though the PlayStation 3 edition remains significantly more popular, according to Amazon's cross-platform sales results. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision). Japan: 1. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 2. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 -- First Print Limited Edition (Nippon Ichi), 3. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 (Nippon Ichi), 4. Assassin's Creed (UBI Soft), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). UK: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Burnout Paradise (EA Games), 3. Clive Barker's Jericho (Codemasters), 4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEE), 5. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft). Burnout Paradise sees a quick exit from this week's PlayStation 3 chart as well, despite a strong showing in its debut week. Uncharted climbs up to second place, meanwhile, with Rock Band and Assassin's Creed still going strong. In the world of likely future hits, Amazon shows rapidly increasing interest for the soon-to-be-released Devil May Cry 4, which joins Gran Turismo 5: Prologue as the console's most anticipated upcoming releases, judging from Amazon's reported presales. Devil May Cry 4 has a head start in Japan, topping sales in its first week of release. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 also proves to be a popular recent Japanese release, with both its regular and limited editions placing among this week's biggest sellers. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (EA 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. God of War (SCEA). Japan: 1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi -- Limited Edition (Banpresto), 2. Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut -- Premium Box (Namco), 3. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi (Banpresto), 4. Lucky * Star -- DX Pack (Kadokawa Shoten), 5. Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut (Namco). UK: 1. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 4. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 5. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (THQ). Rock Band continues to sell the strongest on the PlayStation 2 in North America. Rock Band's PS2 bundle ranks just behind the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero III and the sale-priced Civilization IV: Gold Edition as this week's third-best selling title across all platforms in the United States. Japan's PS2 chart is headed by the just-released Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi and Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut, both of which capture two chart places each for their regular and limited editions. Given the multi-week chart leadership that followed the release of Haruhi's PSP sister title, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku, Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi will likely remain a common sight on the region's PS2 charts for weeks to come. PC North America: 1. Civilization IV: Gold Edition (2K Games), 2. The Sims: Castaway Stories (EA Games), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. World of Warcraft Battlechest (Blizzard). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 2.0 (E Frontier), 2. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 01 -- Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 3. RPG Tsukuru VX (Enterbrain), 4. Civilization IV Deluxe Pack (Cyber Front), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). UK: 1. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 2. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 3. The Orange Box (EA Games), 4. Crysis (EA Games), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). A day-long discount in price as a result of Amazon's "Deal of the Day" promotion places Civilization IV: Gold Edition at the top of PC sales in North America. The sale has proven to be popular enough to rank the title among the week's top sellers across all platforms, as well. Meanwhile, the just-debuted The Sims expansion Castaway Stories finds fast sales in its first few days of release, as last week's chart leader World of Warcraft Battlechest trails behind at fifth place. The Capcom-developed MMO upgrade Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 2.0 leads in Japan, meanwhile, seeing fast sales in its first few days of release. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Mario Party DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Houkago Shounen (Konami), 2. Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi (Square Enix), 3. Final Fantasy IV (Square Enix), 4. Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! (Namco), 5. Takahashi Shoten Kanshuu: Saihinshutsu! SPI Perfect Mondaishuu (Genki). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 4. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). After ending its debut week as the overall best-selling Nintendo DS title in North America, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin falls just slightly out of chart territory in this week's results, finishing at sixth place. Last week's jump in sales for Wario: Master of Disguise has quickly dissipated as well, while the scarce Mario Party DS has since been restocked and rejoins the chart after a long absence at fifth place. Konami's Houkago Shounen debuts to first-place sales in Japan, meanwhile, as the original Brain Training takes top honors in Europe. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 5. LocoRoco (SCEA). Japan: 1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku -- Limited Edition (Bandai), 2. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia), 3. Yggdra Union (Sting), 4. World Soccer Winning Eleven Ubiquitous Edition 2008 (Konami), 5. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom). UK: 1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision), 4. Test Drive Unlimited (Atari), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops sees an unexplained surge in popularity this week at Amazon, with no apparent drop in price leading to its sudden reappearance at the top of North American PSP sales. LocoRoco finds new popularity as well, despite never once breaking into the top five over the past several months. Former chart leaders Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions fall out of North America's top five, meanwhile, as Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku rises back up the charts in Japan, following the recent debut and success of its PS2 counterpart, Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi.