Saling The World: Japan Trains Faces, UK Sings '90s Hits

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 August 2nd, 2007, feature an early, console-spanning sales lead for Otona no DS Kao Training in Japan, while SingStar '90s injects new life into the PlayStation 2 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. Wii Play (Nintendo), 2. Mario Strikers Charged (Nintendo), 3. The Godfather: Blackhand Edition (EA Games), 4. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Forever Blue (Nintendo), 3. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 4. Kidou Senshi Gundam: MS Sensen 0079 (Bandai), 5. Dragon Quest Swords: Kamen no Joou to Kagami no Tou (Square Enix). UK: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 5. Cooking Mama (505 Games). Mario Party 8 is back at the top of the UK Wii sales chart this week, following a short absence brought about by a voluntary recall. Mario Strikers Charged makes a similarly impressive sales effort in its first week of release in the United States, though close competition from Wii Play results in a second-place finish. Elsewhere, Forever Blue manages an impressive debut in Japan, though recently discovered freeze glitches may curtail future sales until a fix is issued. Xbox 360 North America: 1. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 3. Gears of War (Microsoft), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft). Japan: 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Spike), 2. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 3. Dead Rising -- Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 4. Chikyuu Boueigun 3 (D3 Publisher), 5. Gears of War (Microsoft). UK: 1. The Darkness (2K Games), 2. Gears of War (Microsoft), 3. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft), 4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 5. Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters). Demand for the upcoming Madden NFL 08 reaches a new high this week in the United States, with Amazon reporting that Madden presales currently outnumber the sales of all other entries in its Xbox 360 software sales chart. NCAA Football 08 remains the week's top seller among all currently available 360 software, however, and its sales dominance will likely remain uncontested until Madden's release. PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo), 2. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA), 3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft), 4. NCAA Football 08 (EA Sports), 5. The Darkness (2K Games). Japan: 1. Minna no Golf 5 (SCEI), 2. Gundam Musou (Bandai), 3. Wangan Midnight (Genki), 4. Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (SCEI), 5. FolksSoul: Ushinawareta Denshou (SCEI). UK: 1. Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEE), 2. MotorStorm (SCEE), 3. Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega), 4. Formula One Championship Edition (SCEE), 5. The Darkness (2K Games). Madden 08 tops preorder sales for the PlayStation 3 as well, though demand for the PS3 port of NCAA Football 08 continues to wane in the weeks following its release. Ninja Gaiden Sigma has retaken the top U.S. position, meanwhile, though it has since slipped out of Japan's top five. Sigma's sales fate remains uncertain in both regions, though it seems likely to remain near the top of North America's chart for the time being. PlayStation 2 North America: 1. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (Activision), 3. God of War II (SCEA), 4. Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix), 5. God of War (SCEA). Japan: 1. J.League Winning Eleven 2007 Club Championship (Konami), 2. Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection (Konami), 3. Super Robot Taisen OG: Original Generations (Bandai), 4. Ikki Tousen: Shining Dragon (Marvelous), 5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas -- Best Price (Capcom). UK: 1. SingStar '90s (SCEE), 2. Transformers: The Game (Activision), 3. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (Activision), 4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 5. SingStar Pop Hits (SCEE). Konami captures a large share of the week's Japanese PlayStation 2 chart, with both last week's sales champ Metal Gear 20th Anniversary and the just-released J.League Winning Eleven 2007 Club Championship outselling all competing software by a wide margin. Europe sees a surge of interest for Sony's SingStar series following the recent release of SingStar '90s, as both '90s and the previously released SingStar Pop Hits rise to become chart success stories this week. PC North America: 1. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 4. The Sims 2: Seasons (EA Games), 5. The Sims 2: H&M Stuff (EA Games). Japan: 1. Little Busters! (KEY), 2. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games), 3. Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B (Ecole), 4. Final Fantasy XI All-in-One Pack 2006 (Square Enix), 5. Monster Hunter Frontier (Capcom). UK: 1. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2K Games), 2. Football Manager 2007 (Sega), 3. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 4. Medieval II: Total War (Sega), 5. The Sims 2 (EA Games). Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is once again the PC platform's best-selling software title in the United States and Europe, and almost manages to eclipse Wii Play as the single biggest U.S. seller across all platforms. Otherwise, this week's charts are largely identical to last week's results, and little change can be observed from week to week. Nintendo DS North America: 1. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 3. Big Brain Academy (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age (Nintendo), 5. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo). Japan: 1. Facening de Hyoujou Yutaka ni Inshou Up: Otona no DS Kao Training (Nintendo), 2. Zelda no Densetsu: Mugen no Sunadokei (Nintendo), 3. Ganbaru Watashi no Kakei Diary (Nintendo), 4. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Motto Eigo Duke (Nintendo), 5. TOEIC Test DS Training (IE Institute). UK: 1. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo), 3. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo), 4. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 5. Cooking Mama (505 Games). The "face training" edutainment title Facening de Hyoujou Yutaka ni Inshou Up: Otona no DS Kao Training proves to be a fierce sales competitor, outselling all software across every platforms in Japan in its first week of release. Pokemon Diamond suffers its first defeat in the many months since its initial U.S. release, meanwhile, falling to second place in sales for the first time in its sales history. Pokemon faces a much steeper sales decline in Europe, however, with Diamond falling out of the top spot in its second week of release, while Pearl disappears from the top five completely. PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Lumines (Ubisoft), 2. Brave Story: New Traveler (Xseed Games), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts), 5. Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition (Square Enix). Japan: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Lumines -- PSP the Best (Bandai), 3. Goku Makaimura Kai (Capcom), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom), 5. Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC (Nihon Falcom). UK: 1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar), 2. Transformers: The Game (Activision), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Formula One 06 -- Platinum (SCEE), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports). Brave Story: New Traveler makes a surprising second-place debut this week in the United States, as PSP owners seem eager to snap up the newly released RPG in the wake of widespread critical praise and positive buzz. Goku Makaimura Kai (an upgraded version of Capcom's Ultimate Ghosts'n Goblins) is met with similar enthusiasm from gamers in Japan in its first week of release, though an overseas version has yet to be announced.