UK Sales Chart, Week Ending June 18th

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has just managed to hold onto the number one spot in this week’s UK sales charts, in the face of a number of prominent new entries. Less than 2,000 sales separated the top two titles, with Electronic Arts’ latest Medal of Honor game just missing out on the top spot. Electronic Arts’ other new entry, movie tie-in Batman Begins, performed less well at number six – although it is not clear whether this is a reaction to the quality of the game, the fact that the movie has only just opened in the UK, or a new wariness of movie tie-ins in general, after previous titles such as Catwoman. Certainly, THQ’s troubled racing title Juiced has had a much more impressive first week in the charts, going some way to justify the publisher’s purchase of the game (after the collapse of original publisher Acclaim), and its subsequent delay so that improvements could be implemented. Next week is likely to be just as busy, in terms of new releases, with the UK’s oddly paced release schedule seeing Conker: Live and Reloaded, Destroy All Humans, Tekken 5, Battlefield 2, Dynasty Warriors 5 and Madagascar all coming out on the same day.

Official UK Leisure Software Charts (c) ELSPA compiled by Chart-Track