Saling The World: 'Zelda Rules U.S., GTA Rules Japan'

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 1st, 2007, feature Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on a rampage in Japan, while the PSP finds favor among classic gaming enthusiasts in the UK. 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. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 2. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 3. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft), 4. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 5. Excite Truck (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 3. Zelda no Densetsu: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 4. Excite Truck (Nintendo), 5. Odoru Made in Wario (Nintendo). UK: 1. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo), 4. Red Steel (Ubisoft), 5. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft). The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess reclaims top honors in this week's Wii software sales in the United States, wresting the position from previous sales leader WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Both titles could soon find themselves competing with upcoming software that has been generating a surprising amount of attention from gamers in recent days, however. Preorder numbers for this week indicate a shift in interest toward soon-to-be released titles like Mario Party 8 and Sonic and the Secret Rings, the latter of which is now set to debut a week earlier than its previously announced release date. Xbox 360 North America: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 3. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 4. Battlestations Midway (Eidos), 5. Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports). Japan: 1. The Idolm@ster (Namco), 2. Atsumare! Pinata (Microsoft), 3. Gears of War (Microsoft), 4. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 5. The Godfather (EA Games). UK: 1. Gears of War (Microsoft), 2. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Konami). Despite a strong debut last month, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has seen a steady decline in consumer interest recently, and has fallen to third place in Xbox 360 software sales in the United States. The title is also in the midst of a mild sales slowdown in Japan, though this is mostly due to the strength of popular recent releases like The Idolm@ster, Atsumare! Pinata, and Gears of War. All three titles have contributed to increased Xbox 360 console sales in recent weeks, and Gears of War has proven to be so popular that it briefly found itself among the top ten overall best-selling console titles in Japan. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 3. Need for Speed Carbon (EA Games), 4. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Ubisoft), 5. NBA 2K7 (2K Sports). Japan: 1. MotorStorm (SCEI), 2. Resistance: Jinrui Botsuraku no Hi (SCEI), 3. Ridge Racer 7 (Namco), 4. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Target in Sight (Bandai), 5. Armored Core 4 (From Software). With its only competition consisting of months-old titles like Resistance: Fall of Man and Need for Speed Carbon, the just-released Sonic the Hedgehog has little trouble in becoming this week's top PS3 seller in the United States. Early reports indicate that few of the major problems critics noted in the earlier Xbox 360 version have been fixed in the PS3 port, however. While PS3 owners may be eager to adopt Sonic initially thanks to the lack of recent competing software, sales could quickly decline if critical reception is poor. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero II (RedOctane), 2. Rogue Galaxy (SCEA), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. Guitar Hero (RedOctane), 5. Karaoke Revolution Party (Konami). Japan: 1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Capcom), 2. J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 5 (Sega), 3. Okami (Capcom), 4. Shining Force EXA (Sega), 5. Pachitte Chonmage Tatsujin 10: Pachinko Fuyu no Sonata (Hack Berry). UK: 1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 2. Buzz! The Big Quiz (SCEE), 3. Canis Canem Edit (Rockstar), 4. SingStar (SCEE), 5. SingStar Party (SCEE). Anticipation was running high in Japan for the release of the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and after spending only two weeks on store shelves, the title is dominating Japanese sales charts by a wide margin. Ranking in as the single best-selling software title in Japan across all platforms this week, San Andreas has achieved a kind of success rarely seen in titles developed overseas, and for the time being, sales show no signs of slowing. PC North America: 1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (SOE), 4. The Sims 2: Pets (EA Games), 5. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft). Japan: 1. Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ (QuinRose), 2. Sukatto Golf Pangya - Marugoto Kit (Frontier Groove), 3. Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 (Square Enix), 4. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft), 5. SimCity 4 Deluxe (EA Games). UK: 1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 4. Guild Wars: Nightfall (NC Soft), 5. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (SOE). To little surprise, The Burning Crusade remains the leader in PC software sales this week, though the upcoming The Sims 2: Seasons promises to give the acclaimed World of Warcraft expansion pack plenty of competition in the near future. In other MMORPG news, the just-released Vanguard: Saga of Heroes manages to make a strong impression in its first week of release, outselling established hits like The Sims 2: Pets and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Nintendo DS North America: 1. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (Nintendo), 2. Brain Age (Nintendo), 3. Kirby Squeak Squad (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Wish Room: Tenshi no Kioku (Nintendo), 2. Sekaiju no Meikyuu (Atlus), 3. Picross DS (Nintendo), 4. San Goku Shi Taisen DS (Sega), 5. Bokujou Monogatari: Kimi to Sodatsu Shima (Marvelous). UK: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 3. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo), 4. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo), 5. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo). Hotel Dusk: Room 215 continues its reign at the top of the DS charts in the United States and Japan, despite the title receiving virtually no advance press or promotion. If Amazon's sales numbers are indicative of the title's popularity at other retail outlets, Hotel Dusk is well on its way to becoming another surprise hit for the Nintendo DS. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 2. Sid Meier's Pirates! (2K Games), 3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports), 4. FIFA 07 (EA Sports), 5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar). Japan: 1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Konami), 2. Maplus: Portable Navi (Edia), 3. Talkman Shiki: Shabe Lingual Eikaiwa (SCEI), 4. Salamander Portable (Konami), 5. Parodius Portable (Konami). UK: 1. Sega Mega Drive Collection (Sega), 2. Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City (EA Games), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 5. Mind Quiz (Ubisoft). Nostalgia runs high in the UK this week as the 16-bit retro compilation Sega Mega Drive Collection (released in the U.S. as Sega Genesis Collection) takes over the top PSP sales spot. Japan is no different, as fellow retro collections Salamander Portable and Parodius Portable still pull big sales numbers even in the face of the wildly successful Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.