Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five real-time Amazon.com sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide.
This week's charts, with data taken from February 5th, 2009, find Halo 3 and Call of Duty: World at War at the top of North America's Xbox 360 software sales charts, while Star Ocean: Second Evolution and Mario Kart DS drive sales on portables.
Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy of the public sales information on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded. This results in a true sense of what games are selling worldwide on the real-time updated service, as follows:
Nintendo Wii
North America: 1. Samba de Amigo (Sega), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 5. Active Life: Outdoor Challenge (Namco Bandai).
Japan: 1. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco), 2. Another Code:R - Kioku no Tobira (Nintendo), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 5. Wii de Asobu: Mario Tennis GC (Nintendo).
UK: 1. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 3. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega).
Sega's Samba de Amigo takes a surprise sales victory on the Nintendo Wii this week, thanks to a recent Amazon "Deal of the Day" promotion that dropped the title's price to $9.99. Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii continue to see strong sales, while the physical fitness titles My Fitness Coach and Active Life: Outdoor Challenge close out the regional top five.
In Japan, Nintendo's Trace Memory sequel Another Code:R - Kioku no Tobira premieres this week at second place, as Taiko no Tatsujin remains in the region's top spot. Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii follow at third and fourth place, while Wii de Asobu: Mario Tennis GC finishes fifth.
Xbox 360
North America: 1. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 2. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 3. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 4. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 5. Fallout 3 (Bethesda).
Japan: 1. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 2. Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Spike), 3. Ninja Blade (From Software), 4. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision).
UK: 1. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 2. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft), 3. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 4. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision).
Anticipation for the upcoming release of Halo Wars boosts sales for Halo 3, which finishes as North America's top Xbox 360 title for the week. Call of Duty: World at War and Gears of War 2 finish at second and third place, followed by Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3.
Left 4 Dead also sees a strong sales week in Japan, where it finishes first in overall sales numbers. Midnight Club: Los Angeles finishes up its first week of release at second place, while last week's sales leader Ninja Blade takes third.
PlayStation 3
North America: 1. LittleBigPlanet (SCEA), 2. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Burnout Paradise (EA Games).
Japan: 1. Demon's Souls (SCEI), 2. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 3. Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! -- PlayStation 3 The Best (Sega), 4. Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Spike), 5. Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos).
UK: 1. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- Game of the Year Edition (Activision), 3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune -- Platinum Edition (SCEE), 4. Mirror's Edge (EA Games), 5. Assassin's Creed -- Platinum Edition (Ubisoft).
LittleBigPlanet takes a weekly sales lead over last week's PS3 chart champion Call of Duty: World at War in North America, as Metal Gear Solid 4 moves up to finish third. Grand Theft Auto IV returns to the platform's top five at fourth place, meanwhile, as Burnout Paradise once again finishes at fifth.
The From Software-developed action-adventure title Demon's Souls tops Japanese PS3 software sales in its first week of release, and pushes last week's top seller Fallout 3 to second place. Fellow newcomer Midnight Club: Los Angeles also makes an impressive showing this week, though Tomb Raider: Underworld may soon be on its way out of the regional top five.
PlayStation 2
North America: 1. Yakuza 2 (Sega), 2. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Atlus), 3. Katamari Damacy (Namco), 4. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami), 5. Madden NFL 09 (EA Sports).
Japan: 1. Hokuouki (Idea Factory), 2. Fate/Unlimited Codes -- SP-BOX (Capcom), 3. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Yumenoukihashi Special (Koei), 4. Ryu ga Gotoku 2 -- PlayStation 2 the Best (Sega), 5. Gundam Musou 2 (Bandai).
UK: 1. SingStar: ABBA (SCEE), 2. Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos), 3. SingStar Singalong with Disney (SCEE), 4. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar).
Persona 4 is finally unseated from the PlayStation 2's top sales spot this week in North America, after spending more than a month at first place in weekly sales numbers. This week's champion is Sega's acclaimed but commercially underwhelming Yakuza 2, which finds new sales life this week thanks to a drop in price at Amazon.
Namco's Katamari Damacy returns to the top five this week as well, while Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection and Madden NFL 09 finish close behind.
PC
North America: 1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard), 2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- Game of the Year Edition (Bethesda), 3. World of Goo (Brighter Minds), 4. The Sims 2: Double Deluxe (EA Games), 5. Fallout 3 (Bethesda).
Japan: 1. Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection (Square Enix), 2. Left 4 Dead (Zoo), 3. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 4.0 Premium Package (E Frontier), 4. RPG Tsukuuru VX (Enterbrain), 5. Civilization IV Complete (Cyber Front).
UK: 1. Football Manager 2009 (Sega), 2. Left 4 Dead (EA Games), 3. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA Games), 4. Civilization IV Complete (2K Games), 5. Fallout 3 (Bethesda).
Wrath of the Lich King again tops PC platform sales at Amazon this week, beating out competition from the returning Game of the Year Edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. World of Goo moves up a spot in this week's results, as Fallout 3 finishes behind The Sims 2: Double Deluxe at fifth place.
Nintendo DS
North America: 1. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney), 4. MySims Kingdom (EA Games), 5. Brain Age (Nintendo).
Japan: 1. Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou: Meguri au 2-Jin no Meitantei (Bandai Namco), 2. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Square Enix), 3. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo), 4. Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo), 5. Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor (Atlus).
UK: 1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo), 2. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo), 3. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Junior Brain Trainer (Avanquest), 5. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo).
Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force continues to move up the charts in North America, with this week's results placing the title at third in Nintendo DS software sales. Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. again finish at the top, as MySims Kingdom re-enters chart territory following a recent discount in price at Amazon.
Elsewhere, the manga-licensed detective title Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou: Meguri au 2-Jin no Meitantei debuts to a first place sales victory in Japan, as Professor Layton continues its multi-week reign as the top DS seller in the UK.
PlayStation Portable
North America: 1. Star Ocean: Second Evolution (Square Enix), 2. Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (SCEA), 3. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 5. Daxter (SCEA).
Japan: 1. Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (Namco), 2. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009 (Konami), 3. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix), 4. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G -- PSP the Best (Capcom), 5. Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 -- Special Edition (Namco).
UK: 1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE), 2. FIFA 09 (EA Sports), 3. Football Manager Handheld 2009 (Sega), 4. Lego Batman (Warner Bros.), 5. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (Activision).
Star Ocean: Second Evolution and Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow continue to battle for the top PSP sales spot in the United States, with Star Ocean emerging as the victor in this week's results. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Daxter return to the North American charts this week after a brief absence, as Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 tops Japanese sales for the second week in a row.
