UK Charts: LittleBigPlanet And Gears of War Too

Epic Game’s Gears of War 2 has become Microsoft’s second UK number one of the year, after Fable II, as well as the third fastest-selling game ever on the Xbox 360 – placing after only Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3. Sony’s LittleBigPlanet on PlayStation 3 was also new at number two, delayed from its originally intended release date of October 24th. The UK developed title was released on Wednesday 5th, rather than on Friday 7th like the rest of the new entries, and so had an additional two days of sales to cement its position. The final new entry in the top ten, at number three, was Level-5’s Professor Layton and the Curious Village on Nintendo DS. Originally released in Japan in February 2007, and in North America a year later, the game has been held over to be one of the cornerstone DS titles for Nintendo of Europe this Christmas. Elsewhere in the top ten, combined sales of FIFA 09 saw only a 1 percent fall in sales, while Bethesda’s Fallout 3 dropped by 42 percent in its second week. Stock of Wii hardware and software has held steady, with Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit and Wii Play all still in the top 10. Outside of the top 10 the highest new entry was THQ’s WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 on PlayStation 3 at number 13, with the 360 version at number 14 and the PlayStation 2 version at number 22. Combined sales saw the game chart as high as number five in the all formats chart, with the PS3 version claiming 34 percent of sales and the 360 33 percent. PlayStation 3 exclusive MotorStorm: Pacific Rift debuted at number 28, while Activision’s Guitar Hero: World Tour on 360 entered at number 34. The standalone and guitar controller bundle are available this week, with the other instrument controllers and bundles due next week. Re-entering the charts at number 24 was Nintendogs: Lab & Friends for DS, with Big Brain Academy on DS at number 27. Another re-entry was Gran Turismo 5: Prologue on PS3 at number 40, hinting at increased sales of PS3 hardware bundles – although as usual no specific hardware data for the UK is available. In a turnaround from just a week ago, overall in the top 40 there were 11 titles for the Xbox 360, 10 for the PlayStation 3, eight for the Nintendo DS, five for the Wii, three for the PlayStation 2, two for the PC and one for the PSP.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2008. ELSPA Ltd