Saling The World: The Sims 2: FreeTime, Gundam Lead Worldwide 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 February 28th, 2008, find The Sims 2: FreeTime leading North American software sales in its first week of release, while Gundam Musou Special emerges as this week's biggest seller in Japan. 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 (Konami), 4. Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge (Conspiracy), 5. Game Party (Midway). Japan: 1. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 (Konami), 4. Family Ski (Namco), 5. Wii Sports (Nintendo). UK: 1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo), 4. PDC World Championship Darts 2008 (Oxygen), 5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts). Guitar Hero III overtakes all chart competition as this week's biggest-selling Nintendo Wii title in North America, remaining in high demand more than four months after its initial release. Last week's sales leader Wii Play falls out of chart range in this week's results, as Super Mario Galaxy and Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party jump up to second and third place. Dairantou Smash Brothers X continues to lead the Wii charts in Japan, meanwhile, though its cross-platform sales leadership has been overtaken by this week's release of Gundam Musou Special. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 4. Frontlines: Fuel of War (THQ), 5. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft). Japan: 1. The Idolm@ster: Live for You! (Namco), 2. BioShock (Spike), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. The IdolM@ster -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 5. Burnout Paradise (EA Games) UK: 1. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 2. Frontlines: Fuel of War (THQ), 3. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft) 4. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision). Rock Band's multi-week stay at the top of North America's Xbox 360 sales chart comes to an end this week. Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 claim big sales in its stead, and Frontlines: Fuel of War makes a notable chart impression in the U.S. and the UK in its first week of release. In Japan, the Idolm@ster sequel Live for You! debuts as this week's second-best selling title across all platforms in the region, while BioShock and Call of Duty 4 remain big sellers. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEA), 5. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom). Japan: 1. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 2. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom), 3. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 -- First Print Limited Edition (Nippon Ichi), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Burnout Paradise (EA Games). UK: 1. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Burnout Paradise (EA Games), 4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (SCEE), 5. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE). Rock Band also drops its lead on the PlayStation 3 in North America this week, falling to second place as Call of Duty 4 rises back up to the top. Uncharted manages to find its way back into the top five, while sales for Devil May Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed remain steady. Elsewhere, Lost Planet retains its lead in Japan, and a price drop takes Assassin's Creed to the top spot in Europe. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Rock Band Special Edition (MTV Games), 2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 3. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision), 5. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision). Japan: 1. Gundam Musou Special (Bandai), 2. eb!Kore + Kimikiss Special Edition (Enterbrain), 3. Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi -- Limited Edition (Banpresto), 4. Lucky * Star -- DX Pack (Kadokawa Shoten), 5. Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] (Kadokawa Shoten). UK: 1. SingStar '80s (SCEE), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Rugby 08 (EA Sports), 4. Gran Turismo 4 (SCEE), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar). While Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore and its recently discounted prequel finish high in weekly PS2 software sales, this week's North American chart is still ruled entirely by Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Rock Band's special edition has remained at the top of the chart for many weeks, and its popularity seems unlikely to waver even in the face of tough competition from four different Guitar Hero releases. Japan, meanwhile, finds new sales leadership in Gundam Musou Special, a newly released port of an action title released in other regions last year as Dynasty Warriors Gundam. PC North America: 1. The Sims 2: FreeTime (EA Games), 2. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock), 3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 4. LOST: Via Domus (Ubisoft), 5. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games). Japan: 1. Clannad Full Voice (Key), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 2.0 Premium Package (Capcom), 4. Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series 01 -- Hatsune Miku (Cripton Future Media), 5. RPG Tsukuru VX (Enterbrain). UK: 1. The Sims 2: FreeTime (EA Games), 2. The Sims 2 (EA Games), 3. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 4. LOST: The Video Game (Ubisoft), 5. The Orange Box (EA Games). The Sims 2 expansion pack FreeTime debuts as this week's biggest software seller across all platforms in the United States, trumping chart mainstays like Call of Duty 4 and Professor Layton by a significant margin. The title debuts to top sales in Europe as well. Its sales performance is likely to slow in future weeks, however, given the sales rush and sudden slack that typically follows every release of a new expansion for The Sims. FreeTime should still lead in next week's PC results, though cross-platform sales could tell a different story. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 4. Petz: Hamsterz 2 (Ubisoft), 5. Brain Age (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Sekaiju no Meikyuu 2: Shoou no Seihai -- Limited Edition (Atlus), 2. Soma Bringer -- Limited Edition (Nintendo), 3. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season (Konami), 4. Sekaiju no Meikyuu 2: Shoou no Seihai (Atlus), 5. Akagawa Jirou Mystery: Yasoukyoku (Marvelous). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo), 5. Professor Kageyama's Maths Training (Nintendo). Professor Layton and the Curious Village still holds strong as this week's top-selling DS title in North America, and finishes second to The Sims 2: FreeTime in overall sales across all platforms. Petz: Hamsterz 2 emerges as a big seller this week as well, as a direct result of a limited-time price drop at Amazon. Sekaiju no Meikyuu 2: Shoou no Seihai keeps its lead in Japan, meanwhile, as Nintendo's recently released Soma Bringer trails close behind. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Patapon (SCEA), 2. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (NIS America), 3. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 4. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Musou Orochi (Koei), 2. MyStylist (SCEI), 3. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabou - Axis no Kyoui (Bandai), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 5. Maplus: Portable Navi 2 (Edia). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami), 3. The Simpsons Game (EA Games), 4. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 5. Need for Speed: ProStreet (EA Games). Though Amazon noted weak initial sales for its Japanese and UK versions, Patapon debuts this week to first-place sales in PSP software in North America. Patapon's victory is likely to be short-lived, however, as the highly anticipated God of War: Chains of Olympus is expected to dominate PSP sales upon its release next week. In the meantime, a discounted Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness climbs up to second place in weekly sales, while Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Final Fantasy Tactics drop down to take third and fourth.