Saling The World: Spore Tops Worldwide PC 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 September 11th, 2008, find Spore topping PC software sales in all regions in its first week of release, as Yakuza 2 leads PS2 demand in the United States. 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. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Active Life: Outdoor Challenge (Namco Bandai), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Rock Band (EA Games). Japan: 1. One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 - Nami ni Yureru Hihou (Bandai), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports), 5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega). Mario Kart Wii sees a rare victory over Wii Fit in North American sales this week, while chart mainstays Rock Band and Wii Play find their sales dominance challenged by the just-released Active Life: Outdoor Challenge. The NES Power Pad-like Outdoor Challenge exercise mat peripheral appears to be a hit among Amazon shoppers unable to secure a copy of the sought-after Wii Fit, and the title could find itself among the console's top five sellers for weeks to come. In Japan, the premiere episode of One Piece Unlimited Cruise releases to a first-place finish this week, while Europe sees its sales once again topped by Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Dead Rising (Capcom), 2. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 3. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (EA Games), 4. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Infinite Undiscovery (Square Enix), 2. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 3. Infinite Undiscovery -- Limited Edition (Namco), 4. Atsumare! Pinata 2: Garden no Dai-Pinch (Microsoft), 5. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom). UK: 1. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (EA Games), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports). A price-dropped Dead Rising finishes as this week's top Xbox 360 seller in the United States, followed by Madden NFL 09 and the recently released Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Last week's debuting Infinite Undiscovery and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise drop out of the regional top five, meanwhile, in favor of continuing demand for Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Viva Pinata 2 and Infinite Undiscovery fare better in their debut week in Japan, where both titles chart among the region's top Xbox 360 sellers. Tales of Vesperia drops to second place in Japanese sales for the first time since its release last month, while a rereleased Dead Rising takes fifth. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 4. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (SCEA), 5. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA). Japan: 1. Afrika (SCEI), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots -- Special Edition (Konami), 3. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- PlayStation 3 the Best (Bethesda). UK: 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEA), 4. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (EA Games), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (EA Sports). The nearly two-year-old Resistance: Fall of Man finds new sales life in North America this week following a recent discount in price at Amazon. Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 still lead overall results, while Madden NFL 09 and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue hold on strong at third and fourth place. Japanese sales are again fronted by Sony's Afrika, while two different editions of Metal Gear Solid 4 chart among the regional top five. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Yakuza 2 (Sega), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 3. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports), 4. TNA Impact (Midway), 5. God of War II (SCEA). Japan: 1. D.Gray-man: Sousha no Shikaku (Konami), 2. Persona 4 (Atlus), 3. Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (Sega), 4. Drastic Killer -- Excellent Box (Banpresto), 5. Sengoku Basara X (Capcom). Yakuza 2 breaks the multi-week chart dominance of Rock Band and Madden NFL 09 shortly after its release, arriving as this week's best-selling PlayStation 2 title in the United States. Preorder sales for upcoming titles like Persona 4 and Lego Batman also run high this week, proving that the console still holds a large degree of popularity among Amazon shoppers. Konami's recently released D.Gray-man: Sousha no Shikaku tops PS2 demand in Japan, meanwhile, as Persona 4 and Sega's Fantasy Zone Complete Collection finish at second and third in the week's results. PC North America: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Spore: Galactic Edition (EA Games), 3. The Sims 2: Apartment Life (EA Games), 4. Spore Creature Creator (EA Games), 5. The Orange Box (EA Games). Japan: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 3. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 3.0 Premium (E-Frontier), 4. Ragnarok Online Beginner's Package 2008 (E Frontier), 5. Ragnarok Online Summer Package 2008 (E Frontier). UK: 1. Spore (EA Games), 2. Spore Creature Creator (EA Games), 3. The Sims 2: Apartment Life (EA Games), 4. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (Deep Silver), 5. Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Deluxe Edition (Microsoft). Spore debuts as this week's top-selling PC title in all regions, surpassing the popularity of the recently released The Sims 2: Apartment Life. Spore: Galactic Edition also sees strong sales this week, despite both the regular and limited editions receiving a significant number of negative, anti-DRM reviews at Amazon in the U.S. and the UK. The Spore Creature Creator tool remains a top seller even after Spore's release, meanwhile, as The Orange Box rounds out the stateside top five. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 2. Spore Creatures (EA Games), 3. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo), 2. KORG DS-10 (AQ Interactive), 3. Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu No Hanayome (Square Enix), 4. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (Nintendo), 5. Dokidoki Majo Shinpan! 2 (SNK Playmore). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Scrabble 2007 Edition (Ubisoft), 5. Puzzler Collection (Ubisoft). A price drop at Amazon drives Mario Kart DS to the top of this week's North American Nintendo DS sales results. Spore Creatures and Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir see a successful debut week at second and third place, meanwhile, as long-time chart toppers New Super Mario Bros. and Brain Age 2 are pushed to fourth and fifth. Nintendo DS sales in Japan again find Rhythm Tengoku Gold leading over KORG DS-10, while Brain Training remains the platform's biggest seller in the UK. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 5. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 2. Phantasy Star Portable (Sega), 3. Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper -- Megamori Box (Capcom), 4. Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida. -- PSP the Best (SCEI), 5. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia). UK: 1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE), 2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision), 5. FIFA 08 (EA Sports). Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII remains North America's top PSP seller this week, followed by God of War: Chains of Olympus. Tekken: Dark Resurrection and GTA: Liberty City Stories still hold on to their top five positions from last week, while Madden NFL 09 reenters the charts at fifth place. In Japan, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and Phantasy Star Portable again reign as weekly top sellers, as Europe finds its charts headed by Crisis Core and God of War.