UK Sales Chart, Week Ending November 27th

EA's Need for Speed: Underground 2 has replaced Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the number one selling game in the UK, strengthening its chances of becoming the Christmas number one. With no truly new entries in the top ten, the fastest riser has been THQ's game version of Pixar's The Incredibles, thanks to the release of the movie. Konami's popular sports title Pro Evolution Soccer 4 has also received a boost from the release of the Xbox version, although, for less obvious reasons, FIFA 2005 has also improved on its position last week. What is most interesting this week, though, are the games which have failed to reach the top ten. The much hyped, but critically savaged, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent has entered at number eleven, while the similarly criticized Killzone has entered at number twelve. More disastrously, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has entered at just thirty-three, signaling just how far behind the other two console formats the GameCube is in the UK. Sony’s Jak 3 has done no better, though, at number thirty-seven and Ghost Recon 2 has also disappointed at thirty-four. The obvious conclusion to draw is that the market has reached saturation point, and, regardless of the critical response, what would be high profile titles at any other time of the year are being lost in the Christmas rush. This is a familiar fate for games at this time of year and one which publishers seems more reluctant than ever to avoid.

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