UK Sales Chart, Week Ending February 18th

Electronic Arts’ hopes for Need for Speed: Most Wanted to become the longest-serving number one in the UK ever have been dashed by the unexpected success of Fumito Ueda’s Shadow of the Colossus. In a market not known for its tolerance of more artistic titles, the game has entered straight in at number one. The budget price re-release of Ueda’s ICO has also entered at number twenty-three in the charts, and may well see the game performing better on its re-release than during its initial debut in 2002. LucasArts’s strategy title Star Wars: Empire at War has also exceeded initial expectations, albeit at a slow time of the year for game sales in general, with the highest ranking for a PC game in the UK all formats charts for a number of months. The highest climber of the week is, predictably, Buena Vista Games’ Chicken Little, following the release of the movie in British cinemas. The highest new entry after ICO is Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure at number twenty-five, a debut that is unlikely to result in the size of hit Atari was hoping for.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2006 ELSPA (UK) Ltd