UK Charts: Mario Kart Leads Nintendo Traffic Jam

There has been no movement at all in the whole UK top five this week, with few new releases of note. Now that it's freely available in stores, Mario Kart Wii was still the top-selling game after weeks of relatively limited stock. Its sales, and those of second-placer Wii Fit, were up by 12 percent this week. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training (aka Brain Age) at number five also became a record-breaker this week, with a total of 80 weeks in the combined formats chart. The previous record-holder was the original Tomb Raider, with 79 weeks. With the Olympics still not over during the period covered by this chart Beijing 2008 on PlayStation 3 moved up one place to number 10, although the Xbox 360 version fell one place to number nine. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games rose one place to number six on the Wii, with the Nintendo DS version a non-mover at number 12. The highest new entry in the top 40 was the DS version of Carnival Funfair Games, which debuted at number 32. Although released the previous week, the PlayStation 2 version of Summer Athletics made its first appearance in the chart at number 34, as did Empire Interactive’s budget priced Off Road on Wii at number 36. With overall sales at a seasonal low, a number of evergreen titles also re-appeared in the charts, with Grand Theft Auto IV on PlayStation 3 at number 24 (one place ahead of the Xbox 360 version, which rose seven places this week). Ubisoft’s My Health Coach on DS re-entered at number 35 and Nintendo’s Big Brain Academy for Wii at number 37. Overall in the charts there were 14 titles each for the Wii and Nintendo DS, six for the Xbox 360, five for the PlayStation 3, one for the PlayStation 2 and zero for the PSP and PC.

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