Saling The World: Spider-Man 3 Rules Europe, Guitar Hero II U.S.

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 May 3rd, 2007, include a look at which ports of the just-released Spider-Man 3 are currently the most popular in Europe, and which could go on to lead U.S. charts in future weeks. 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 Paper Mario (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Wii de Yawaraka Atama Juku (Nintendo), 3. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo), 4. One Piece Unlimited Adventure (Bandai), 5. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Spider-Man 3 (Activision), 3. Excite Truck (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports), 5. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo). Though Super Paper Mario continues to be the Wii's weekly top-selling title in the United States, the game's popularity has dropped slightly since its initial release in Japan. Super Paper Mario is bested in sales by both Wii de Yawaraka Atama Juku and Wii Sports this week, and may or may not retake the top spot in future weeks. It should be interesting to see if the game can recover, given that it will likely continue to lead in the United States for some time to come. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games), 5. Saints Row (THQ). Japan: 1. Test Drive Unlimited (Atari), 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 3. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 4. Gears of War (Microsoft), 5. Armored Core 4 (From Software). UK: 1. Spider-Man 3 (Activision), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Crackdown (Microsoft), 4. Prey (2K Games), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games). Long gone from Xbox 360 sales charts in the United States and Europe, Atari's Test Drive Unlimited makes another strong showing in Japanese sales in its second week of release. Saints Row also makes a return to the charts this week in the United States after a long absence, thanks to a recent universal price drop to $29.99 at all retail outlets. Meanwhile, the recently released Spider-Man 3 heads Europe's chart, while Guitar Hero II remains in short supply in the U.S. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda), 3. MotorStorm (SCEA), 4. Major League Baseball 2K7 (2K Sports), 5. Call of Duty 3 (Activision). Japan: 1. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 4 (Konami), 2. Winning Post 7: Maximum 2007 (Koei), 3. Gundam Musou (Bandai), 4. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco), 5. MotorStorm (SCEI). UK: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with Free HDMI Cable (Ubisoft), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 3. MotorStorm (SCEE), 4. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 5. Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega). After leading the United States' PS3 chart last week, sales for Sierra's F.E.A.R. have dropped dramatically, possibly due in part to a cool reception from critics. In other news, preorder sales for the special PlayStation 3 Collector's Edition of the upcoming Spider-Man 3 currently outnumber the weekly sales of all currently available PS3 titles at Amazon. The title should prove to be a big seller upon its release this week in the United States, and later this month in Europe. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 2. God of War II (SCEA), 3. God of War (SCEA), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Persona 3: Fes (Atlus), 2. Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] Extra Edition (Kadokawa Shoten), 3. Persona 3: Fes -- Append Disc Version (Atlus), 4. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica (Prototype), 5. Okami -- PlayStation 2 The Best (Capcom). UK: 1. Spider-Man 3 (Activision), 2. God of War II (SCEE), 3. SingStar: Pop Hits (SCEE), 4. Buzz! The Mega Quiz (SCEE), 5. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 (THQ). The PlayStation 2 version of Spider-Man 3 currently ranks as the fastest-selling port of the game in Europe, where it also manages to become the week's single best-selling title across all platforms. This may not prove to be the case when Spider-Man 3 is released in the United States, however, as next-gen console versions are currently generating a greater amount of preorder interest than the PS2 port. PC North America: 1. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (Midway), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. ArmA: Combat Operations (Atari). Japan: 1. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica -- 1 & 2 Box Edition (Ocelot), 2. Hoshi no Oujo (Mirai), 3. Angel Love Online -- Starter Kit (Frontier Groove), 4. Medieval II: Total War (Sega), 5. Heart no Kuni no Alice -- Wonderful Wonder World (QuinRose). UK: 1. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (Midway), 2. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 3. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (EA Games), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. Medieval II: Total War (Sega). The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar continues its chart dominance for the second week in a row, following up on its powerful debut with consistently strong sales in the days after its release. The game is also meeting with a moderate amount of anticipation in Japan, as Amazon reports increased preorder activity in the region after its release in the U.S. and Europe. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. TOEIC Test DS Training (IE Institute), 2. Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (Square Enix), 3. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 4. Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan (Hudson), 5. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke (Nintendo). UK: 1. Cooking Mama (505 GameStreet), 2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 3. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo). Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl show no signs of giving up their places atop the U.S. Nintendo DS chart anytime soon, with both games remaining the two best-selling software titles across all platforms for the second week in a row in the United States. Meanwhile, former chart-topper Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords finishes in sixth place in Nintendo DS software sales, demonstrating a slowly cooling demand following a restock at Amazon. The recent announcement of an upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version could be partly to blame, though the Nintendo DS port could still make a return to the charts in future weeks. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Daxter (SCEA), 3. MLB 07 (SCEA), 4. Namco Museum Battle Collection (Namco), 5. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 2. Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition (Square Enix), 3. Minna no Chizu 2 Bundle with GPS Receiver (Zenrin), 4. Princess Crown -- Atlus Best Collection (Atlus), 5. Monster Hunter Portable -- PSP The Best (Capcom). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 5. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts). In Japan, sales for Atlus' budget-priced PSP remake of Princess Crown continue to ramp up in the weeks leading to the release of the game's spiritual successor, Odin Sphere on PlayStation 2. Odin Sphere ranks high among software preorder numbers at Amazon, and is currently the single most-preordered title among all upcoming games for the PlayStation 2. Its release later this month should meet with high amounts of demand, and could drive Princess Crown even further up the PSP chart as a result.