Saling The World: The Hotel M@ster

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 January 25th, 2007, include the mastering of idols, the enchanting of arms, and the pirating of Sid Meier. 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. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft), 4. Excite Truck (Nintendo), 5. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Sega). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 3. Zelda no Densetsu: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 4. Excite Truck (Nintendo), 5. Dragon Ball Z Sparking! NEO (Bandai). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 4. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft), 5. Red Steel (Ubisoft). WarioWare: Smooth Moves retains its dominance in the United States, and is still a strong contender in the UK and Japan as well, as sales for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess begin to slow. A number of third-party titles from the likes of Ubisoft and Sega also make appearances on this week's U.S. and UK charts, while Japan's list features recent releases like Excite Truck and Dragon Ball Z Sparking! NEO. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 3 (Activision), 5. Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. The Idol M@ster (Namco), 2. Atsumare! Pinata (Microsoft), 3. The Godfather (EA Games), 4. Vampire's Rain (AQ Interactive), 5. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 (THQ). UK: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 3. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. Condemned: Criminal Origins (Sega). While proven hits like Gears of War and Lost Planet: Extreme Condition still lead sales in the U.S. and Europe, preorder numbers for Crackdown have risen sharply, thanks to a recent announcement that all copies will come bundled with an invitation to the Halo 3 beta test. A significant number of preorders for Halo 3 continue to roll in as well, despite the fact that the game has yet to receive a solid release date. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 2. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Ubisoft), 3. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games), 4. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 5. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision). Japan: 1. [eM] -eNCHANT arM- (From Software), 2. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco), 3. Resistance: Jinrui Botsuraku no Hi (SCEI), 4. MotorStorm (SCEI), 5. Armored Core 4 (From Software). [eM] -eNCHANT arM- (previously seen in the United States as Enchanted Arms on the Xbox 360) debuts to a first-place showing in this week's Japanese PS3 software sales. If preorder numbers are to be believed, however, Japanese gamers are even more enthusiastic about upcoming titles like Virtua Fighter 5 and Gundam Musou. The upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog also continues to be a hot preorder item in both the United States and Japan, despite the game's poor reception on the Xbox 360 and no indication that the PS3 port will be improved in any way. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II (RedOctane), 2. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 3. Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix), 4. Karaoke Revolution Party (Konami), 5. Guitar Hero (RedOctane). Japan: 1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar), 2. Tennis no Oji-Sama: DokiDoki Survival - Umibe no Secret (Konami), 3. Pachitte Chonmage Tatsujin 10: Pachinko Fuyu no Sonata (Hack Berry), 4. .hack//G.U. Vol. 3: Aruku Youna Hayasa de (Bandai), 5. Shining Force EXA (Sega). UK: 1. SingStar Party (SCEE), 2. Canis Canem Edit (Rockstar), 3. Buzz! The Big Quiz (SCEE), 4. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 5. SingStar Popworld (SCEE). Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leads video game sales across all platforms in Japan, following a surprisingly strong debut earlier this week. The PC version also manages to make an impression, as curious gamers across Japan are eager to sample the controversial title. In the United States, meanwhile, Karaoke Revolution Party once again outsells the series' most recent release (Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol), while in Europe, the SingStar series experiences a newfound surge in popularity. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game (Viva Media), 4. The Sims 2: Pets (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2 (EA Games). Japan: 1. Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ (QuinRose), 2. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft), 3. Sukatto Golf Pangya - Marugoto Kit (Frontier Groove), 4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2nd Edition (Rockstar), 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard). UK: 1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Battlefield 2142 (EA Games), 4. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 5. Guild Wars: Nightfall (NC Soft). The Burning Crusade still leads as the week's best-selling PC title in the U.S. and Europe, following last week's record-breaking debut at retailers. The Burning Crusade's Collector's Edition is also high in demand in both regions, though Amazon has long since sold out of this sought-after limited release. It appears as though hardcore World of Warcraft fans are now at the mercy of third-party sellers, many of whom offer multiple copies of the Collector's Edition for sale at over $100 each. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (Nintendo), 2. Kirby Squeak Squad (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wish Room: Tenshi no Kioku (Nintendo), 2. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Square Enix), 3. Picross DS (Nintendo), 4. Kanshuu Nippon Joushikiryoku Kentei Kyoukai: Imasara Hito ni wa Kikenai Otona no Joushikiryoku Training DS (Nintendo), 5. Sekaiju no Meikyuu (Atlus). UK: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 3. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 5. Nintendogs: Lab & Friends (Nintendo). In an unexpected turn, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 appears to be garnering much more attention from consumers than its text-based adventure cousin Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. Hotel Dusk tops Amazon's DS software sales charts in its first week of release in the United States and Japan (as Wish Room: Tenshi no Kioku), while Justice for All once again fails to break into the U.S. top five, ranking in at tenth place in weekly sales numbers. It remains to be seen whether either title will be able to duplicate the breakout success of the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, though Hotel Dusk at least seems to have already found a receptive audience. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Sid Meier's Pirates! (2K Games), 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 5. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 2. Lost Regnum: Makutsu no Koutei (Ertain), 3. Salamander Portable (Konami), 4. Parodius Portable (Konami), 5. Talkman Shiki: Shabe Lingual Eikaiwa (SCEI). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 3. Mind Quiz (Ubisoft), 4. Medal of Honor: Heroes (EA Games), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami). Konami rules the PSP charts in Japan this week, with the company's Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and the recent Salamander Portable and Parodius Portable currently raking in big money overseas. Twinbee Portable also performs well in its first week of release, as does the rereleased Gradius Portable.