Chart Get!

Introducing Two Out Rally, Baseball MMORPG

2010-03-13T00:55:00.001-08:00

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What is Two Out Rally?
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Two Out Rally is a massively-multiplayer online baseball role playing game. More explicitly, it's an online baseball game where tons of fans just like you can create players, manage teams, and rise to the top of the leagues by crushing the competition.

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Tell me more.
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Create: Each member of Two Out Rally starts as a scout, and in that role can create players. Choose position, left or right handedness, background, style of play, and attributes depending on exactly what type of player you want. Unlike other MMOs, there are no useless stats! All decisions matter and they all affect the game in different ways.

Coach: Another aspect of Two Out Rally is the ability to train your players and improve their various attributes. As they level up, your training regimen can produce awesome results on the field! Coach your players up and see the results.

Conquer: As scouts gain influence, they can eventually use that to be the GM or Owner of a team. In that role, you take over all aspects of team operation, like finding/acquiring talent, managing contracts, daily lineups, defensive alignments, etc. Manage a successful team and conquer the competition!

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What do I do now?
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Two Out Rally is nearing an Alpha release in April 2010--and we're looking for Alpha testers. We're looking for all sorts of players: those that have done previous testing, those that haven't, those that love baseball, and even some that don't.

If you're interested in Alpha Testing (and getting a jump on the competition as well as some admin-approved bonuses), sign up by posting over at our Facebook fan page. Just throw up a "I'd like to alpha test!" on the wall and we'll make sure and contact you when it opens.

I simply cannot wait to tell you more, but I can't give everything away up front--some of these game functions should really impress you, but some things will remain secret for as long as possible.

Until then, check out:
twooutrally.com <-- watch for updates.

Two Out Rally Facebook Fan page<-- become a fan, check out screen shots, and learn more about the game

Two Out Rally Twitter Page <-- watch for clues about the history of Two Out Rally's awesome world.

contact@twooutrally.com < -- Want to be a tester but afraid of social media? Email us!

UK - Wii Fit Plus Jumps to First Place; Dragon Age: Origins Debuts in 5th

2009-11-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

Wii Fit Plus jumped back up to 1st place on the UK software sales chart (with sales up 3%), followed by EA’s flagship FIFA 10 (sales down 13%). Wii Sports Resort moved up to 3rd, thanks to the best Wii hardware sales of the year with the new White Wii Sports Resort bundle.

The move caused Sega’s new Football Manager 2010 to be pushed down to 4th place on the chart. The best newcomer this week is the critically acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins, the latest RPG epic from developer BioWare. The latest Ratchet & Clank offering from developer Insomniac, A Crack in Time, debuted at 22nd on the chart.

Nintendo’s seen some of its flagship titles move up the charts recently, like Mario Kart Wii, while some of its other popular franchises, like Super Smash Bros. and the original Wii Fit, have slipped to the middle of the charts. Some older titles that reappear in the top 40 this week include Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Fit Plus – Nintendo
2. FIFA 10 – EA
3. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
4. Football Manager 2010 – Sega
5. Dragon Age: Origins – EA
6. Forza Motorsport 3 – Microsoft
7. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Sega
8. Grand Theft Auto Episodes – Liberty City – Take 2
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 – Konami
10. Tekken 6 – Atari

11. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 – THQ
12. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
13. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
14. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
15. Borderlands – Take 2
16. Singstar Take That – Sony
17. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
18. Super Smash Bros.: Brawl – Nintendo
19. Wii Fit – Nintendo
20. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Sony

21. DJ Hero – Activision Blizzard
22. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time – Sony
23. Pure – Disney Interactive Studios
24. Eyepet – Sony
25. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
26. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Atari
27. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
28. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising – Codemasters
29. Wii Play – Nintendo
30. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard

31. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
32. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
33. Style Boutique – Nintendo
34. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
35. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes – LucasArts
36. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
37. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
38. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition – Bethesda Softworks
39. LittleBigPlanet – Sony
40. Rhythm Paradise - Nintendo

UK - Football Manager 2010 Takes Top Honors; DJ Hero Debuts at 20th

2009-11-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

Sega’s Football Manager 2010 took the top spot this week, the third football game in a row to be the best-seller in the UK. The latest in Sega’s franchise managed to outsell Wii Fit Plus, Nintendo’s own sequel to its popular fitness game. Surprisingly, the heavily promoted DJ Hero from Activision Blizzard debuted at number 20.

More football games abound in the Top 10, including FIFA 10 (sales up 3%), and Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (sales down 54%). Grand Theft Auto Episodes: Liberty City debuts at number 6, and Tekken 6 makes its first appearance at number 8.

The Top 10 has been reshuffled, with some titles dropping out completely, including WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2010, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Need for Speed: Shift, and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. In just a few weeks, Brutal Legend has slipped from number 17 to number 36 on the chart.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Football Manager 2010 – Sega
2. Wii Fit Plus – Nintendo
3. FIFA 10 – EA
4. Forza Motorsport 3 – Microsoft
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 – Konami
6. Grand Theft Auto Episodes: Liberty City – Take 2
7. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Sega
8. Tekken 6 – Atari
9. Borderlands – Take 2
10. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo

11. WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 – THQ
12. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Sony
13. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
14. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising – Codemasters
15. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
16. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
17. Wii Fit – Nintendo
18. Eyepet – Sony
19. Super Smash Bros.: Brawl – Nintendo
20. DJ Hero – Activision Blizzard

21. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
22. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
23. Pure – Disney Interactive Studios
24. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
25. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard
26. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition – Bethesda Softworks
27. Up – THQ
28. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
29. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
30. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes – LucasArts

31. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
32. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
33. Wii Play – Nintendo
34. The Beatles: Rock Band – EA
35. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
36. Brutal Legend – EA
37. Style Boutique – Nintendo
38. LittleBigPlanet – Sony
39. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
40. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Nintendo

UK - Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Kicks FIFA 10 Off the Top

2009-10-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 took the top spot from FIFA 10 this week, knocking off the 3-week leader from the All Formats Chart. Forza Motorsport 3 on the Xbox 360 stole the 2nd spot as well, pushing FIFA 10 down to 3rd place.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games moved up to number 4, while newcomer WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 comes in at number 5. After a strong debut, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves slides from 2nd to 6th place.

Recent Gearbox Software title Borderlands debuts at number 7, edging out Wii Sports Resort in 8th, Nintendo’s only Top 10 title this week. Brutal Legend dropped from 7th to 17th after its debut. Eyepet from Sony debuts at number 18 as well.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 – Konami
2. Forza Motorsport 3 – Microsoft
3. FIFA 10 – EA
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Sega
5. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 – THQ
6. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Sony
7. Borderlands – Take 2
8. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
9. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
10. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising – Codemasters

11. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
12. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition – Bethesda Softworks
13. Wii Fit – Nintendo
14. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
15. Super Smash Bros.: Brawl – Nintendo
16. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard
17. Brutal Legend – EA
18. Eyepet – Sony
19. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
20. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2

21. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
22. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes – LucasArts
23. Up – THQ
24. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
25. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
26. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
27. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
28. Wii Play – Nintendo
29. Pure – Disney Interactive Studios
30. Gran Turismo – Sony

31. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
32. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
33. MySims Agents – EA
34. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
35. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
36. Toy Story Mania! – Disney
37. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
38. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
39. Mario Power Tennis – Nintendo
40. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 - EA

UK - FIFA 10 Continues Run; 4 New Titles in Top 10

2009-10-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

FIFA 10 is maintaining a comfortable lead at number one in the UK, now surpassing the 1 million sales mark in its 3rd week at the top.

Four new titles grace the Top 10 All Formats Chart this week. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves received rave reviews and the number 2 spot overall; Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games comes in at number 5; the embattled Brutal Legend debuts at number 7, and Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition comes in at number 10.

A few titles return to the top 40, including Super Smash Bros.: Brawl and Carnival: Funfair Games.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. FIFA 10 – EA
2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Sony
3. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising – Codemasters
4. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Sega
6. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
7. Brutal Legend – EA
8. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
9. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
10. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition – Bethesda Softworks

11. Wii Fit – Nintendo
12. Super Smash Bros.: Brawl – Nintendo
13. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes – LucasArts
14. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard
15. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
16. Gran Turismo – Sony
17. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
18. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
19. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
20. Up – THQ

21. Peppa Pig: The Game – Ubisoft
22. MySims Agents – EA
23. Wii Play – Nintendo
24. Scribblenauts – Warner Bros. Interactive
25. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
26. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
27. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
28. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
29. Night at the Museum 2 – Majesco
30. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos

31. Killzone 2 – Sony
32. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
33. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
34. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
35. Puzzler Collection – Ubisoft
36. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
37. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
38. LittleBigPlanet – Sony
39. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
40. Toy Story Mania! – Disney Interactive Studios

UK - FIFA 10 Continues Strong, Operation Flashpoint Debuts in 2nd

2009-10-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

In the follow-up week to its record debut, FIFA 10 was the top seller in the UK, despite a 64% drop in sales. At number 2 is Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, a new title from Codemasters which is now the biggest selling launch for the publisher.

Scribblenauts, an innovative handheld game from developer 5th Cell, debuts at number 12. Also making its first appearance is Star Wars: Clone Wars – Republic Heroes, the latest from LucasArts.

Other new entries this week are Mario Strikers Charged Football at number 20, Up at number 26, based on the recent Disney/Pixar film, and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue at number 35.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. FIFA 10 – EA
2. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising – Codemasters
3. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
4. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
5. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
6. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
7. Gran Turismo – Sony
8. Wii Fit – Nintendo
9. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
10. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard

11. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
12. Scribblenauts – Warner Bros. Interactive
13. MySims Agents – EA
14. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
15. Star Wars: Clone Wars – Republic Heroes – LucasArts
16. Killzone 2 – Sony
17. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – Square Enix Europe
18. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
19. Wii Play – Nintendo
20. Mario Strikers Charged Football – Nintendo

21. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
22. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
23. LittleBigPlanet – Sony
24. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
25. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
26. Up – THQ
27. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
28. WET – Bethesda Softworks
29. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – Activision Blizzard
30. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega

31. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
32. G-Force – Disney
33. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
34. Risen – Koch Media
35. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – Sony
36. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
37. Toy Story Mania! – Disney
38. Combat of Giants: Dragons – Ubisoft
39. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
40. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – 505 Games

UK - FIFA 10 Makes Record All Formats Debut

2009-10-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

FIFA 10 has debuted at number one in the UK, with 48% more sales than the critically acclaimed FIFA 09, which debuted one year ago. This is the biggest All Formats No. 1 launch since Grand Theft Auto IV began its historic run.

Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, the most recent addition to the popular Nintendo franchise, held on to second place as last week’s top seller, Halo 3: ODST, dropped to number three with a 75% decrease in sales.

Some new releases farther down the list include Ninja Gaiden: Sigma 2 at number 26, and Risen at number 29.

Gran Turismo, normally a UMD-format game, is abnormally high at number 12 as it was offered as a free download on the PlayStation Network coinciding with the release of the media-less PSPGo.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. FIFA 10 – EA
2. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
3. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
4. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
5. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
6. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard
7. MySims Agents – EA
8. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – CodeMasters
9. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
10. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos

11. Wii Fit – Nintendo
12. Gran Turismo – Sony
13. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – Activision Blizzard
14. WET – Bethesda Softworks
15. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
16. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
17. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
18. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – 505 Games
19. Killzone 2 – Sony
20. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard

21. The Beatles: Rock Band – EA
22. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
23. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
24. Wii Play – Nintendo
25. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
26. Ninja Gaiden: Sigma 2 – Tecmo Koei Europe
27. Mini Ninjas – Eidos
28. G-Force – Disney
29. Risen – Koch Media
30. Quantum of Solace – Activision Blizzard

31. LittleBigPlanet – Sony
32. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
33. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
34. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
35. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
36. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
37. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
38. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
39. Saints Row 2 – THQ
40. Fight Night Round 4 - EA

UK - Halo 3: ODST Sees Strong Opening in UK

2009-09-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

Halo 3: ODST has topped the sales charts in the UK this week, the latest release from Bungie and a welcome return to the top for publisher Microsoft.

Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, the latest installment in Nintendo’s popular franchise, debuted at number 2 this week. Last week’s leader, Need for Speed: Shift, was pushed to 3rd place.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 from Vicarious Visions saw strong initial sales, coming in at number 7. The much anticipated release Aion debuted at number 11. Wii Play saw a surge from 38th to 17th place.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Halo 3: ODST – Microsoft
2. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box – Nintendo
3. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
4. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard
5. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
6. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
7. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – Activision Blizzard
8. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
9. WET – Bethesda Softworks
10. Wii Fit – Nintendo

11. Aion – NCSoft Europe
12. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
13. The Beatles: Rock Band – EA
14. Quantum of Solace – Activision Blizzard
15. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
16. MySims Agents – EA
17. Wii Play – Nintendo
18. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
19. Mini Ninjas – Eidos
20. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – 505 Games

21. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
22. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
23. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
24. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
25. Far Cry 2 – Ubisoft
26. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
27. Championship Manager 2010 – Eidos
28. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
29. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
30. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard

31. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
32. Madden NFL 10 – EA
33. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
34. Singstar Motown – Sony
35. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
36. Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades – Activision Blizzard
37. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
38. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
39. FIFA 09 – EA
40. The Sims 3 - EA

UK - Need for Speed: Shift Debuts in First Place

2009-09-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Need for Speed: Shift debuted at number one on the UK software chart this week. “Shift” is the latest addition to EA’s popular franchise, and sales have topped recent Activision release Guitar Hero 5, which was pushed to 2nd place.

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 is the next most popular title in the UK this week, taking the 3rd spot. Batman: Arkham Asylum moves down to 4th after its time at the top.

WET from Bethesda Softworks debuted in the 6th spot this week. Making a reappearance in the top 40 is Far Cry 2 at number 19. Interestingly, it’s the highest ranked game from Ubisoft in the top 40 right now, with Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood being the only other title from the publisher at number 27.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Need for Speed: Shift – EA
2. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision
3. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
5. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
6. WET – Bethesda Softworks
7. The Beatles: Rock Band – EA
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
9. Wii Fit – Nintendo
10. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA

11. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – 505 Games
12. Fight Night Round 3 – EA
13. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
14. Championship Manager 2010 – Eidos
15. Mini Ninjas – Eidos
16. Quantum of Solace – Activision Blizzard
17. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
18. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
19. Far Cry 2 – Ubisoft
20. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive

21. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
22. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
23. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
24. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
25. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
26. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
27. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
28. Killzone 2 – Sony
29. FIFA 09 – EA
30. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo

31. The Sims 3 – EA
32. G-Force – Disney Interactive Studios
33. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
34. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
35. Dissidia: Final Fantasy – Square Enix Europe
36. Singstar Motown – Sony
37. NHL 10 – EA
38. Wii Play – Nintendo
39. Halo 3 – Microsoft
40. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest

UK - Guitar Hero 5 Beats The Beatles Rock Band in their Hometown

2009-09-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

Activision Blizzard’s Guitar Hero 5 has taken the top spot on the UK Software Chart for the first time in the franchise's history, beating out Harmonix’s The Beatles Rock Band.

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 debuts at number 2, one spot higher than the original title did. Next in line is Batman: Arkham Asylum, which had debuted at number one last week.

The Beatles Rock Band, sporting a $250 price tag with all instruments included, makes its first appearance at number 4.

Other new releases this week include Championship Manager 2010 at number 13, and Mini Ninjas at number 15. Section 8 from Timegate Studios comes in at number 22.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Guitar Hero 5 – Activision Blizzard
2. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Codemasters
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
4. The Beatles: Rock Band – Electronic Arts
5. Wii Fit – Nintendo
6. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
7. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – 505 Games
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
9. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
10. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters

11. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – Electronic Arts
12. Fight Night Round 4 – Electronic Arts
13. Championship Manager 2010 – Eidos
14. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
15. Mini Ninjas – Eidos
16. Dissidia: Final Fantasy – Square Enix Europe
17. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
18. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
19. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
20. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo

21. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
22. Section 8 – South Peak Games
23. G-Force – Disney Interactive Studios
24. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
25. FIFA 09 – Electronic Arts
26. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
27. The Sims 3 – Electronic Arts
28. Killzone 2 – Sony
29. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
30. Wii Play – Nintendo

31. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – Electronic Arts
32. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
33. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
34. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
35. Assassin’s Creed – Ubisoft
36. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
37. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack #2 – Bethesda Softworks
38. Littlebigplanet – Sony
39. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
40. Halo 3 - Microsoft

UK - Batman: Arkham Asylum Dominates Thanks to PS3 Slim Bundling

2009-09-07T09:26:00.001-07:00

Batman: Arkham Asylum was still the top seller in the UK this past week, beating out Wii Sports Resort (sales down 11%).

Batman’s sales were down 27% after its opening week, and although the Xbox 360 version is leading, the PS3 version now has a bundling with the PS3 Slim.

With the bundling comes a sales boost for titles like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (sales up 128%), lifting the title to number 3 for the first time in a year and a half.

New release IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey from developer Gaijin Entertainment takes number 6 on the chart. Dissidia: Final Fantasy from Square Enix debuts at number 10. Champions Online debuts at number 18.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
2. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
6. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – 505 Games
7. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
8. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
9. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
10. Dissidia: Final Fantasy – Square Enix Europe

11. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
12. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
13. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
14. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
15. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
16. FIFA 09 – EA
17. The Sims 3 – EA
18. Champions Online – Atari
19. Fallout 3: Game Add-on Pack #2 – Bethesda Softworks
20. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard

21. G-Force – Disney Interactive Studios
22. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
23. Wii Play – Nintendo
24. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
25. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
26. Assassin’s Creed – Ubisoft
27. Profess Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
28. Littlebigplanet – Sony
29. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
30. Killzone 2 – Sony

31. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
32. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
33. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
34. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
35. EA Sports Active – EA
36. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
37. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
38. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
39. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
40. Halo 3 - Microsoft

UK - Batman: Arkham Asylum Takes Top Spot in UK

2009-09-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Batman: Arkham Asylum commanded the top spot this week, knocking off 3-week top-seller Wii Sports Resort. The latest installment in the comic franchise is the first Eidos top software title in some time.

EA’s Fight Night Round 4 drops out of the top 10 to number 13 this week in the UK. G-Force, a relatively new release, has fallen from 13th to 22nd. Resident Evil 5 makes a reappearance at number 39.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Eidos
2. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
3. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
4. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
5. Wii Fit – Nintendo
6. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
7. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
8. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
9. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard

11. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
12. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
13. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
14. The Sims 3 – EA
15. FIFA 09 – EA
16. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
17. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
18. Wii Play – Nintendo
19. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
20. Fallout 3: Game Add-on Pack #2 – Bethesda Softworks

21. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
22. G-Force – Disney Interactive Studios
23. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
24. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
25. Assassin’s Creed – Ubisoft
26. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
27. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
28. Guitar Hero: On Tour – Activision Blizzard
29. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
30. EA Sports Active – EA

31. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
32. Dead Space – EA
33. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
34. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
35. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
36. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
37. Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks
38. New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo
39. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
40. Need for Speed: Undercover - EA

MC 2009-08-17 and Famitsu 2009-08-10: Things of Note

2009-08-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 245 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 196.0 weeks (November 30, 2003), where DS was at 104.0 weeks (November 26, 2006), and where GBA was at 165.7 weeks (May 21, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 193 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 18.2 weeks (January 14, 2002), where PS3 was at 40.0 weeks (August 12, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.8 weeks (January 6, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 145 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 48.0 weeks (January 28, 2001), where PSP was at 71.1 weeks (April 17, 2006), where GCN was at 134.3 weeks (April 6, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.8 weeks (August 10, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 142 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 101.6 weeks (February 27, 2003), where DS was at 78.3 weeks (May 30, 2006), where PS2 was at 122.2 weeks (July 1, 2002), and where PSP was at 172.0 weeks (March 23, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 42 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 58.2 weeks (March 22, 2004) and where DSL was at 20.9 weeks (July 22, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 70.6 / 29.4 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 543.6 weeks (January 24, 2020).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 81.4 / 18.6 make this the most X360-tilted week ever. This brings total shares to 25.2 / 74.8. At this week's rates, X360 catches up to PS3 in 313.6 weeks (August 28, 2015). If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 241.9 weeks (April 13, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 7.1 / 92.9 make this the most Wii-tilted week ever. This brings total shares to 28.0 / 72.0. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 2,503.1 weeks (August 13, 2057).

Week over week, everything is returning from a holiday bump, though for their own reasons Wii and PS3 drop even more. X360 drops the least and continues floating strangely high.

Through the first thirty-four weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -54.2%
DSL+DSi: +14.0%
PS2: -52.2%
PS3: +1.8%
PSP: -46.2%
X360: +107.0%

Home hardware: -35.9%
Portable hardware: -19.6%
Sum of all hardware: -26.2%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

Freaky-deaky Tomodachi Collection increased its weekly sales AGAIN and AGAIN. This last holiday-bumped week was its biggest yet.

In its sixth week Dragon Quest IX not only continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII, but has outsold the initial release altogether! Should take another week or two to additionally outdo what DQ VIII sold in Best form. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that as of week six Dragon Quest IX is back ahead of Dragon Quest VII: 3.62 M to 3.57 M. Thanks to Chris1964 for keeping up with that stat in particular.

Monster Hunter 3's first week put it ahead of the initial PS2 release of Monster Hunter 2. The second week put it ahead of PS2 MH2 combined with its Best release. The third week is just gravy.

Tales of Versus isn't off to a bad start for a modern Tales game, but it's not quite matching up to this year's first PSP Tales hit, either.

Continuing the comparison of decently successful Puyo games from a few weeks back, it looks like DS's Puyo Puyo 7 is behaving a lot like PS2's Puyo Puyo Fever.

Tingle's second outing doesn't start off as well as his first.

MC 2009-08-10: Things of Note

2009-08-28T02:16:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers... (from the week starting August 10)
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 70.6 / 29.4 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 369.6 weeks (September 16, 2016).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 60.7 / 39.3 bring total shares to 25.0 / 75.0. At this week's rates, X360 catches up to PS3 in 677.2 weeks (August 9, 2022). If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 237.9 weeks (March 9, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 11.1 / 88.9 bring total shares to 28.1 / 71.9. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 859.9 weeks (February 8, 2026).

Week over week, everything is up, though it's almost unnoticeable for PS2/PS3/Wii. Seems like a holiday bump which these systems have countered by being old/about to be replaced/coming down from another bump.

Through the first thirty-three weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -54.8%
DSL+DSi: +13.9%
PS2: -52.0%
PS3: +3.0%
PSP: -46.3%
X360: +105.7%

Home hardware: -36.1%
Portable hardware: -19.8%
Sum of all hardware: -26.4%

Last year:

This year:

UK - Wii Sports Resort Holds Off Wolfenstein for Top Spot

2009-08-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

With 2 weeks off from the top spot, Wii Sports Resort (with sales down 12% from last week) has reclaimed the number one position on the UK All Formats Software Chart, holding off new release Wolfenstein by 2,000 sales.

The remake of the classic Wolfenstein 3D, which comes from Quake 4 developer Raven Software, managed to hold off Ashes Cricket 2009, which held first place for the last 2 weeks. Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, and EA continue to dominate the top 10.

Assassin’s Creed made a comeback to the top 40, coming in at number 24, as well as Dead Space at number 35. Recent release Madden NFL 10 has dropped from 8th place to 20th.

Rank – Title – Publisher
1. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
2. Wolfenstein – Activision Blizzard
3. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
6. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
7. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
8. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
9. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
10. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard

11. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
12. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
13. G-Force – Disney Interactive Studios
14. The Sims 3 – EA
15. FIFA 09 – EA
16. Wii Play – Nintendo
17. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
18. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
19. EA Sports Active – EA
20. Madden NFL 10 – EA

21. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
22. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
23. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
24. Assassin’s Creed – Ubisoft
25. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
26. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
27. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
28. Guitar Hero: On Tour – Activision Blizzard
29. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney Interactive Studios
30. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo

31. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
32. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
33. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
34. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
35. Dead Space – EA
36. New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo
37. Need for Speed: Undercover – EA
38. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
39. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
40. Saints Row 2 - THQ

MC 2009-08-03 and Famitsu 2009-07-27: Things of Note

2009-08-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
Actually, Famitsu is in the middle of one of their two-week periods, so their website doesn't have them. Next week it will update with the sum of the sales from the two weeks. However, an external site does list the Top 20 software, so there's still plenty from Famitsu to see at the bottom of this post.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 69.9 / 30.1 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 433.3 weeks (November 28, 2017).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 48.3 / 51.7 bring total shares to 24.9 / 75.1. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 301.5 weeks (April 20, 2017).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 11.0 / 89.0 bring total shares to 28.2 / 71.8. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 870.2 weeks (April 4, 2026).

Week over week, Wii returns to Earth, and the biggest other change is that a PS3 drop and X360 gain put them within kissing distance.

Through the first thirty-two weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -56.0%
DSL+DSi: +13.6%
PS2: -52.0%
PS3: +3.9%
PSP: -46.5%
X360: +110.7%

Home hardware: -36.6%
Portable hardware: -20.3%
Sum of all hardware: -26.9%

Last year:

This year:

You may notice that X360's year-to-date year-over-year is now tanking. Five weeks ago it was over 200%, now it's at 110%. That's because we've reached the time of year when X360 started doing pretty well last year:

PS3 had one of its worst weeks this week. It has has three lower weeks: all during October 2008, immediately preceding a new bundle and Grand Theft Auto IV / Little Big Planet / Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III.

Famitsu Software Stuff

This week's hotness is of course Monster Hunter 3. Though different trackers see things differently, by Famitsu's reckoning in its first two days MH3 became the best-selling single console Monster Hunter SKU.

However, it doesn't beat out PS2 MH2 when combined with its Best rerelease.

It also has a smaller start than the two PSP versions of Monster Hunter 2: MHP2 (412) and MHP2G (2838)

In its fourth week Dragon Quest IX continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that through week three Dragon Quest VII is slightly higher: 3.42 M to 3.39 M.

Dragon Quest IX also passes up Monster Hunter Portable 2G + its Best rerelease this week, to become the top third-party portable game of the generation.

Tomodachi Collection is a weird game: its weekly sales keep going up. This seventh week is its best since its first. I don't know what the record is for continuing to increase each week, and frankly it seems like it'd be a bit of a pain to write something to try to weed such knowledge out of the database. However, if you know of others like this it could be interesting to compare them. Keep in mind that it's not so unusual for this to happen for a game that releases shortly before the end-of-year holiday rush, and then rides the general bump.

At 51K, Puyo Puyo 7 seems to be the best Puyo launch in quite some time. Among all on modern systems I only see one with a greater launch (2004's Puyo Puyo Fever on PS2), and one other over 40K (2006's Puyo Puyo! on DS).

Gears of War 2 starts bigger than its predecessor.

Armored Core 3 Portable for PSP starts off quite a bit better than PSP's other Armored Core: Formula Front. However, that was a launch game.

The new DS Chibi-Robo (3638) isn't performing quite as well as the DS original (109), but better than either the GCN original (1763) or its Wii rerelease (3605).

UK - Codemasters' Ashes Cricket 2009 Continues to Outsell Wii Competitors

2009-08-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Codemasters’ Ashes Cricket 2009 remained at the top of the sales chart this past week, and Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit held 2nd and 3rd place.

Madden NFL 10 debuted at number 8, the latest title from EA Tiburon which has been highly acclaimed for its improvement of the 20-year franchise.

EA’s Fight Night Round 4 dropped out of the top 10, from 5th place to 12th place. Too Human makes an appearance in the top 40, as well as New Super Mario Bros. UFC 2009: Undisputed has plummeted from 22nd to 39th place.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
2. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
3. Wii Fit – Nintendo
4. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
6. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
7. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
8. Madden NFL 10 – EA
9. G-Force – Disney
10. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA

11. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
12. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
13. The Sims 3 – EA
14. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
15. Wii Play – Nintendo
16. FIFA 09 – EA
17. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
18. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
19. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
20. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive

21. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
22. EA Sports Active – EA
23. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
24. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
25. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
26. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
27. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
28. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
29. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
30. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo

31. Active Health with Carol Vorderman – Nintendo
32. Too Human – Microsoft
33. My Fitness Coach: Get in Shape – Ubisoft
34. New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo
35. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
36. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
37. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
38. Need for Speed: Undercover – EA
39. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
40. Trivial Pursuit - EA

MC 2009-07-27 and Famitsu 2009-07-20: Things of Note

2009-08-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 242 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 194.8 weeks (November 21, 2003), where DS was at 103.3 weeks (November 21, 2006), and where GBA was at 163.0 weeks (May 2, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 190 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.8 weeks (January 11, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.4 weeks (August 8, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 142 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 47.5 weeks (January 24, 2001), where PSP was at 70.4 weeks (April 11, 2006), where GCN was at 131.6 weeks (March 18, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.4 weeks (August 8, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 139 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.8 weeks (February 15, 2003), where DS was at 77.5 weeks (May 25, 2006), where PS2 was at 118.7 weeks (June 7, 2002), and where PSP was at 169.2 weeks (March 4, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 39 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 53.5 weeks (February 18, 2004) and where DSL was at 19.9 weeks (July 15, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 72.2 / 27.8 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 443.0 weeks (January 28, 2018).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 28.8 / 71.2 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 614.3 weeks (May 12, 2021).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 8.4 / 91.6 are the first time Wii has had over 90%. These bring total shares to 28.2 / 71.8. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 574.0 weeks (August 3, 2020).

Week over week, Wii explodes, DS continues sliding down, and everything else stays relatively unchanged.

Through the first thirty-one weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -57.6%
DSL+DSi: +13.1%
PS2: -52.1%
PS3: +4.6%
PSP: -46.6%
X360: +160.0%

Home hardware: -36.9%
Portable hardware: -20.7%
Sum of all hardware: -27.3%

Last year:

This year:

Though it's been near for the last eight months or so, this week finally pushes Wii 5 million over PS3.

Famitsu Software Stuff

In its third week Dragon Quest IX continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that through week three Dragon Quest VII is slightly higher: 3.26 M to 3.22 M.

UK - Ashes Cricket 2009 Knocks Wii Sports Resort off the Top

2009-08-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

New release Ashes Cricket 2009 has knocked Wii Sports Resort off the top of the UK Software Chart after just two weeks. The Codemasters title marks the first time a UK publisher has reached the top of the All Formats chart since Eidos in 2007.

THQ’s top-selling UFC 2009 Undisputed dropped from 8th place to 22nd, while G-Force jumped from 26th to 9th place, coinciding with the film's theatrical release.

Some other titles that saw sharp declines in sales include Infamous, from 27th to 36th place, and Race Driver: GRID, from 24th to 38th place. The decrease in UK business follows news of a weak 2nd quarter in the United States.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Ashes Cricket 2009 – Codemasters
2. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
3. Wii Fit – Nintendo
4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
5. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
6. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
7. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
8. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
9. G-Force – Disney
10. The Sims 3 – EA

11. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
12. FIFA 09 – EA
13. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
14. EA Sports Active – EA
15. Wii Play – Nintendo
16. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
17. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
18. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
19. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
20. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo

21. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
22. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
23. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
24. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
25. Mario Kart DS - Nintendo
26. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
27. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
28. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
29. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
30. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ

31. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
32. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
33. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
34. MySims Racing – EA
35. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga – LucasArts
36. Infamous – Sony
37. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
38. Race Driver: GRID – Codemasters
39. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
40. Football Manager 2009 - Sega

UK - Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Remain Dominant

2009-08-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

With a 6% increase in sales, Wii Sports Resort remains at the top of the UK Software Sales chart. The long-running success of Wii Fit has boosted that title to second place.

The next three spots belong to EA, with a solid lineup of Tiger Woods, Harry Potter, and Fight Night.

UFC 2009 Undisputed has pushed its way back into the top 10, following recent announcements of record profits for THQ thanks to the popular fighting sim.

Recent release G-Force is at number 26, while Lego Batman: The Videogame and Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits have reappeared in the Top 40.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
2. Wii Fit – Nintendo
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
4. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
5. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
7. The Sims 3 – EA
8. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
9. EA Sports Active – EA
10. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft

11. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
12. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
13. FIFA 09 – EA
14. Wii Play – Nintendo
15. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
16. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
17. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
18. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
19. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
20. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo

21. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
22. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
23. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
24. Race Driver: GRID – Codemasters
25. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
26. G-Force – Disney
27. Infamous – Sony
28. My Fitness Coach: Get in Shape – Ubisoft
29. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
30. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo

31. MySims Racing – EA
32. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
33. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
34. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros.
35. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
36. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
37. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
38. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
39. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
40. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest

MC 2009-07-20 and Famitsu 2009-07-13: Things of Note

2009-07-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 241 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 194.3 weeks (November 18, 2003), where DS was at 103.1 weeks (November 20, 2006), and where GBA was at 162.5 weeks (April 29, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 189 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.7 weeks (January 11, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.3 weeks (August 7, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 141 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 47.3 weeks (January 23, 2001), where PSP was at 70.1 weeks (April 10, 2006), where GCN was at 130.7 weeks (March 12, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.3 weeks (August 7, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 138 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.7 weeks (February 14, 2003), where DS was at 77.5 weeks (May 24, 2006), where PS2 was at 118.2 weeks (June 3, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.9 weeks (March 1, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 38 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 52.3 weeks (February 10, 2004) and where DSL was at 19.2 weeks (July 10, 2006).

So DSi has passed what GBASP did in its first full year with 14 weeks to spare. Clearly DSi is a more successful reiteration of hardware than GBASP, but also clearly not the giant DS Lite was.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 75.2 / 24.8 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 477.9 weeks (September 23, 2018).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 25.5 / 74.5 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 706.8 weeks (February 11, 2023).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 27.3 / 72.7 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 549.3 weeks (February 4, 2020).

Week over week, there's no uniformity or real pattern to the ups and down.

Through the first thirty weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -61.8%
DSL+DSi: +11.9%
PS2: -51.9%
PS3: +4.8%
PSP: -46.6%
X360: +171.5%

Home hardware: -39.4%
Portable hardware: -21.3%
Sum of all hardware: -28.6%

Last year:

This year:

With YTD sales of 245K by Media Create, X360 could stop now and still have its second best year yet. #1 is 2008 at 322K.

Famitsu Software Stuff

In its second week Dragon Quest IX continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII, though at 2.95 million it narrowly misses 3 million. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that through week two Dragon Quest VII was at 2.93 million.

After its first week, Dragon Quest IX became the DS's #8 title. After its second week, it is #7, passing Pokémon Platinum. Everything else is currently at 3.4-5.7 million, so further passing will be slow-going.

PSP's Ys I & II Chronicles starts off well, matching the better two PS2 Ys starts. I'm not finding any other Ys games in Garaph. I specifically looked for the DS release of I & II, but it appears so far that has only released in North America.

In some sort of sales turkey, Momotarou Dentetsu 20th Anniversary has ranked #30 for three weeks in a row.

THQ Reports Record $6.4 Million Profit from UFC 2009 Undisputed

2009-07-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Following the success of UFC 2009 Undisputed, THQ has posted a $6.4 million Q1 profit. The addition of Red Faction: Guerrilla to its core lineup of games has helped boost net sales up 77 percent to $243.5 million.

With its cut-cutting measures in recent years, including trimming studio personnel and overhead, THQ has started to rise from financial trouble to a potential profitable year at last.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell acknowledged the company’s global employees, citing their “hard work and dedication” as a key to THQ’s success.

Source: Gamasutra

UK - Wii Sports Resort Debuts at Number One

2009-07-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Following the premiere of the Wii MotionPlus controller this summer, Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort, which fully utilizes the technology, has taken first place on the UK software sales chart.

EA remains strong with Harry Potter in second (sales down 4%), and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 in third (sales down 3%).

Wii franchises have sold well; Wii Fit is at number four with just a 3% increase in sales. Fight Night Round 4 saw its sales decline 24%, dropping it to 6th place.

Other Wii titles that utilize MotionPlus technology could see an increase in sales in the near future, including Virtua Tennis 2009 in 13th place, and Grand Slam Tennis in 25th.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
2. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
6. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
7. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
8. The Sims 3 – EA
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. EA Sports Active – EA

11. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
12. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
13. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
14. FIFA 09 – EA
15. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
16. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
17. Wii Play – Nintendo
18. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
19. Pokémon Platinum – Nintendo
20. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard

21. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
22. Race Driver: Grid – Codemasters
23. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
24. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
25. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
26. Infamous – Sony
27. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
28. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
29. Transformers: Revenge – Autobots – Activision Blizzard
30. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega

31. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
32. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
33. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
34. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
35. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
36. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Activision Blizzard
37. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
38. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
39. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
40. New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo

MC 2009-07-13 and Famitsu 2009-07-06: Things of Note

2009-07-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 240 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 193.9 weeks (November 15, 2003), where DS was at 102.9 weeks (November 18, 2006), and where GBA was at 162.1 weeks (April 26, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 188 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.6 weeks (January 10, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.2 weeks (August 6, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 140 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 47.1 weeks (January 22, 2001), where PSP was at 69.8 weeks (April 8, 2006), where GCN was at 130.1 weeks (March 7, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.2 weeks (August 6, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 137 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.6 weeks (February 13, 2003), where DS was at 77.4 weeks (May 24, 2006), where PS2 was at 117.8 weeks (June 1, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.7 weeks (February 29, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 37 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 50.6 weeks (January 29, 2004) and where DSL was at 18.3 weeks (July 4, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 81.6 / 18.4 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 603.9 weeks (February 14, 2021).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 24.6 / 75.4 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 748.9 weeks (November 26, 2023).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 29.9 / 70.1 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 555.8 weeks (March 14, 2020).

Week over week, DS is down about 20%, everything else down about 10%.

Through the first twenty-nine weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -62.2%
DSL+DSi: +10.3%
PS2: -51.5%
PS3: +5.2%
PSP: -46.4%
X360: +183.6%

Home hardware: -39.4%
Portable hardware: -21.9%
Sum of all hardware: -29.0%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

Of course the big release this week is Dragon Quest IX. Though the only other new mainline Dragon Quest in Garaph is VIII, take my word that it had the biggest first week of the series. The biggest week of ANY game only available for two days in a week. So it's pretty impressive to see IX beat it by about 100K, even if that doesn't look like much on the scale of this image.

Final Fantasy VIII with its 2.5 million is still the greatest first week overall, but like most games FFVIII was available for four days its first week.

DS has some incredible selling games and there's no guarantee Dragon Quest IX will reach 5 million territory as some of them have, it's still pretty interesting to see the difference in how quickly it starts. With its first week DQ IX became the #8 game on DS by lifetime sales; here it is compared to the games above it.

The closest any game gets to starting like DQ IX is #1 Diamond/Pearl, but even after three weeks it was still a little short of DQ IX's first week.

Its first week also makes it the #15 overall game in the PS2/GBA/GCN/Xbox/DS/PSP/X360/Wii era Garaph properly covers, though I'll leave it to you to follow the link and see all 2+ million sellers if you wish. It is most interesting to note that it beats out the final totals of Final Fantasy X and XII, though that doesn't include any budget or international rereleases.

I usually don't show the Famitsu Top 30 software bar, but this week's is particularly amusing.

Moving away from Dragon Quest...

PSP's Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 (3629) beats out the last known total of PS3's Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (4).

Though this news would've been more appropriate a few weeks ago, it's been brought to my attention that Kirby Super Star Ultra has apparently become the best selling Kirby on DS, passing up Kirby Squeak Squad. It's possible Squeak Squad is still a little ahead, but considering it averaged about 1K/week throughout 2008, it won't be by the time we get another update on it--if we ever do.

The only better-selling Kirby games are the original two early 1990s Game Boy games, which reached about 1.5 million each.

New Super Mario Bros. and Inazuma Eleven are friends. This week thanks to the DS bump they're sitting next to each other on the Top 30, at #27 and #28. Last week they were sitting together at #36 and #37. The week before they were sitting together at #49 and #50.

Famitsu Software Pie note: Thanks to Dragon Quest IX, DS takes a monstrous percentage of total software sales, resulting in low percents for everything else, include a record low for PS2. DS's weekly percentage is actually a record high for any system since Famitsu started giving percentages that cover the whole market and not just the Top 30.

DS:   88.8
Wii:   5.1
PSP:   3.5
PS3:   1.4
PS2:   0.8
X360:  0.4
Other: 0.1

Sam Raimi to Direct Upcoming Warcraft Film

2009-07-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Academy-Award winning director Sam Raimi has been confirmed to direct the upcoming movie based on the popular MMO Warcraft, gamesindustry.biz reported today.

Raimi, best known for his work on the Spider-Man trilogy, will be working alongside Charles Roven of Atlas Entertainment. Atlas has brought numerous successful films to the public, including The Dark Knight. Raimi and Roven will bring a plethora of producing partners to the film, with several from Blizzard Entertainment.

Legendary Pictures plans to release the film, although specific dates, as well as casting choices, are currently unknown.

UK - EA Commands Top 10 as Harry Potter Takes 1st

2009-07-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

With the theatrical release of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, sales of the EA game rose by 5%, helping boost yet another of the publisher’s titles to number one on the UK Software Chart.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10, the frontrunner last week, saw its sales decline by 20% as it dropped to number 3, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen rose to 2nd. EA now commands virtually every other title in the Top 10.

Fight Night Round 4 lost nearly one-third of sales last week, dropping from 2nd place to 5th. In 9th place, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare continues to outsell the newer Call of Duty: World at War.

Notably, sales of Rhythm Paradise increased an astonishing 96%, boosted by a recent commercial featuring Beyonce.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 – EA
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
6. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
7. The Sims 3 – EA
8. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. EA Sports Active – EA

11. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
12. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
13. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
14. FIFA 09 – EA
15. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
16. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
17. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
18. Wii Play – Nintendo
19. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
20. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard

21. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
22. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
23. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
24. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
25. Infamous – Sony
26. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
27. Buzz! Master Quiz – Sony
28. Overlord II – Codesmasters
29. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
30. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ

31. Transformers: Revenge – Autobots – Activision Blizzard
32. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
33. Singstar Singalong with Disney – Sony
34. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosuars – Activision Blizzard
35. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
36. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
37. MySims Racing – EA
38. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
39. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack – Bethesda Softworks
40. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training - Nintendo

MC 2009-07-06 and Famitsu 2009-06-29: Things of Note

2009-07-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 239 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 193.3 weeks (November 11, 2003), where DS was at 102.7 weeks (November 17, 2006), and where GBA was at 161.6 weeks (April 22, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 187 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.5 weeks (January 10, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.1 weeks (August 5, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 139 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 46.8 weeks (January 19, 2001), where PSP was at 69.5 weeks (April 6, 2006), where GCN was at 128.9 weeks (February 29, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.1 weeks (August 5, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 136 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.4 weeks (February 12, 2003), where DS was at 77.3 weeks (May 23, 2006), where PS2 was at 117.4 weeks (May 29, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.4 weeks (February 27, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 36 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 47.8 weeks (January 9, 2004) and where DSL was at 17.4 weeks (June 28, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 82.9 / 17.1 are the best DS has done relative to PSP since the PSP un-bump the week before Crisis Core/PSP-2000 hit. This brings total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 544.4 weeks (December 19, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 26.6 / 73.5 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 608.0 weeks (March 7, 2021).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 30.8 / 69.2 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 498.3 weeks (January 29, 2019).

Week over week, DS is way up and everything else is down.

PS3 and PSP in particular have some long term downs. To find a lower month for either you'd need go back to October 2008.

Through the first twenty-seven weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -62.5%
DSL+DSi: +7.6%
PS2: -51.0%
PS3: +5.7%
PSP: -45.7%
X360: +194.8%

Home hardware: -39.2%
Portable hardware: -22.7%
Sum of all hardware: -29.5%

Last year:

This year:

Looking at these YTD pies, we can see that now both Wii and PSP are down more than a million units from last year.

Famitsu Software Stuff

Wii Sports Resort's second week brings it over 500K, and pushes the Wii Sports series over 4 million.

Wii Sports Resort also passes up RE5 PS3 and Yakuza 3 to become the best-selling console game of the year. It's interesting to note how similar all of their first weeks are, but obviously WSR is less front-loaded.

Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 (3629) starts off slower than PS2's BnN2 (926) did in 2002, but does about double what PSP's BnN Portable (344) did in its first week in 2006 or what PS3's BnN3 (4) did in 2007.

Once again, Infinite Space sees a week-over-week increase.

With one more week of numbers past the mid-2009 Top 100, the DS and Wii Taiko no Tatsujin games seal the #2-4 positions in the franchise, all in the 580sK. Another interesting franchise event that looks likely to happen soon is Taiko Wii (3314) ceasing to be the fastest-selling Taiko game from launch. While its legs have been impressive, the original PS2 game (939) was even less front-loaded.

Pokémon Platinum has poked back into the charts recently, so seeing it again this week is no surprise. What is more of a surprise is that Pokémon Diamond/Pearl also popped back into the Top 30 for its first appearance since September 2008. It was also in last week's mid-2009 Top 100, though, so this doesn't update its number much beyond what we already knew.

Famitsu Software Pie note: A rare week of near-parity among the top three software selling platforms, though with two new games sitting at #2 and #3 this week PSP takes the top spot for the first time since the release of Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 in January.

PSP:  30.3
DS:   29.2
Wii:  27.8
PS3:   7.1
PS2:   3.4
X360:  2.0
Other: 0.2

UK - Tiger Woods Fights to the Top as EA Pushes for Top 3 Dominance

2009-07-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

With the critical and commercial success of Fight Night Round 4, other new releases like Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have yet to claim the top spot on the UK Top 40 Software Chart. This week, the latest iteration of the Tiger Woods franchise has fought its way number 1, with sales down just one percent.

EA Sports, continuing its dominance of the charts, has seen sales of Fight Night Round 4 plummet 45% this past week, but the seminal boxing title managed to edge out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (sales down just 2%).

Notably, the latest Harry Potter game has seen a 73% increase in sales, which could catapult EA to command of the top 3 spots, something which Nintendo has been doing frequently.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is still going strong, as it comes back to the top 10 with a 10% increase in sales.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 – EA
2. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
4. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
5. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
6. Wii Fit – Nintendo
7. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
8. The Sims 3 – EA
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard

11. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
12. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
13. EA Sports Active – EA
14. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
15. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
16. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
17. FIFA 09 – EA
18. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
19. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
20. Wii Play – Nintendo

21. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
22. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack – Bethesda Softworks
23. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
24. Infamous – Sony
25. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
26. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
27. Buzz! Master Quiz – Sony
28. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
29. The Conduit – Sega
30. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2

31. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Activision Blizzard
32. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
33. Overlord II – Codemasters
34. Transformers: Revenge – Autobots – Activision Blizzard
35. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts
36. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
37. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
38. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
39. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
40. MySims Racing - EA

Famitsu: Dragon Quest IX sells 2.34 million its first week

2009-07-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

According to Famitsu, the new Dragon Quest IX has sold 2,343,440 copies in its first week. This is a new series record, besting the 2,236,881 Dragon Quest VIII sold its first week in 2004. Since Dragon Quest VIII previously held the record for the biggest first week for a title which was available for only two days in the week, Dragon Quest IX is the new champ.

The overall highest number a game has reached in its first week is Final Fantasy VIII with 2,504,044. However, it had four days of availability in its first week, as most games do.

Also of note is that until now, the biggest first week any DS game had was Pokémon Diamond/Pearl's 1,586,360. It also had four days of availability in its first week.

Famitsu First Half 2009 Top 100: Things of Note

2009-07-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Interesting fun-time mid 2009 updates.

In one of my favorite continuing comparisons, even after all this time Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (3521) continues to behave incredibly ridiculously like B:HtS 5 (2874).

In another long-running comparison are the DS and Wii Taiko no Tatsujin games. I've on multiple times suggested they looked like they would all meet up around 600K. Well, maybe that was 10-20K too much. As this stand at the end of June it's 586K DS 2, 583K DS 1, and 578K Wii.

Across the entire Taiko series the DS games now take up the #2 and #3 spots, with Wii at #5. For the moment there's still a PS2 game squeezed in at #4.

When the 2008 Top 500 came out I pointed out that DS's Tales of Innocence had ended up with decent legs for a Tales game and broke past that ~200K mark a lot of them stopped at. Well, it looks like Tales of Hearts has done the same thing. Though the more recent PSP Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 is the best-selling post-PS2 Tales game, Hearts is #2.

We get an update on Wii's One Piece Unlimited Cruise Episode 2. While it has had legs, they haven't been as good as those of Episode 1.

Game Center CX 2 seems to be holding up better compared to its original, though the timing of the infrequent LTD updates relative to launch isn't very similar.

The update on Suikoden Tierkreis (3324) doesn't change much. It's still below any of the main console games, and above anything else. Though at 156K it's not so far behind Suikoden V (2391) at 195K anymore.

Famitsu First Half 2009 Top 100

2009-07-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Credit to bttb at NeoGAF.

Sales cover the period from December 29, 2008 through June 28, 2009.

01. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (Nintendo) 647,844
02. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (BEST) (Capcom) 595,348 (794,465)
03. [PS3] Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Sega) 489,739
04. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 472,261
05. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 465,838 (3,433,135)
06. [NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix) 462,453
07. [NDS] Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo) 398,069 (1,748,740)
08. [PSP] Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce (Koei) 383,326
09. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (Pokemon) 357,271
10. [WII] Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) 353,827

11. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Bandai Namco Games) 326,403 (577,586)
12. [PSP] Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (Bandai Namco Games) 317,413
13. [NDS] Style Savvy (Nintendo) 291,194 (840,542)
14. [NDS] Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (Capcom) 267,680
15. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 267,435 (2,270,750)
16. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 263,547 (1,158,849)
17. [NDS] Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) 261,016 (1,116,443)
18. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon) 240,288 (2,427,625)
19. [PSP] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami) 233,727
20. [NDS] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Square Enix) 232,801

21. [PS2] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami) 231,174
22. [PSP] Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix) 229,258 (889,520)
23. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom) 224,701
24. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) 217,697 (3,524,167)
25. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (Koei) 216,363
26. [360] Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope (Square Enix) 208,438
27. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Bandai Namco Games) 207,079
28. [WII] Wii de Asobu: Mario Tennis GC (Nintendo) 191,342
29. [PSP] Idolmaster SP: Perfect Sun/Missing Moon/Wandering Star (Bandai Namco Games) 187,039
30. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Bandai Namco Games) 184,056

31. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom) 176,258
32. [NDS] WarioWare D.I.Y. (Nintendo) 175,482
33. [NDS] Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo) 170,490
34. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo) 169,707 (5,021,760)
35. [NDS] Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (Konami) 165,919 (399,368)
36. [NDS] Momotarou Dentetsu: 20th Anniversary (Hudson) 164,771 (286,911)
37. [PSP] Kidou Senshi Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Bandai Namco Games) 163,763
38. [NDS] Power Pro Kun Pocket 11 (Konami) 155,878 (254,954)
39. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami) 148,583
40. [NDS] Professor Layton and The Last Time Travel (Level 5) 147,562 (775,705)

41. [NDS] Picross 3D (Nintendo) 145,392
42. [NDS] Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (Bandai Namco Games) 141,409 (585,542)
43. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo) 140,001 (3,457,319)
44. [PS3] Street Fighter IV (Capcom) 139,626
45. [NDS] Sloane to MacHale no Nazo no Monogatari (Level 5) 139,542
46. [NDS] 7th Dragon (Sega) 136,104
47. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) 136,017 (5,508,204)
48. [PS3] Demon's Souls (SCE) 134,585
49. [PS3] White Knight Chronicles (SCE) 134,491 (337,524)
50. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5) 131,053 (360,064)

51. [PSP] Persona (Atlus) 128,709
52. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires (Koei) 127,739
53. [NDS] Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! (Konami) 125,552 (280,539)
54. [WII] Karaoke Joysound Wii (Hudson) 119,755 (234,806)
55. [360] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 117,069
56. [NDS] Phantasy Star Zero (Sega) 116,734 (202,307)
57. [WII] Wii de Asobu: Pikmin (Nintendo) 116,382 (164,611)
58. [NDS] DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo) 108,552 (533,824)
59. [WII] Wii de Asobu: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo) 107,460
60. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (Bandai Namco Games) 106,887 (313,325)

61. [NDS] Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (Atlus) 106,779
62. [PS2] Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (Bandai Namco Games) 101,021 (233,161)
63. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) 100,176 (2,693,470)
64. [WII] One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 2 - Mezameru Yuusha (Bandai Namco Games) 99,995
65. [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami) 95,735 (393,631)
66. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Bandai Namco Games) 95,336
67. [PSP] Warriors Orochi 2 (Koei) 85,876 (196,336)
68. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 (Sega) 85,303
69. [PS3] Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm (Bandai Namco Games) 83,868
70. [NDS] Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009 (Konami) 82,885

71. [NDS] Tales of Hearts: CG Movie Edition/Anime Movie Edition (Bandai Namco Games) 82,474 (259,000)
72. [PSP] Makai Senki Disgaea 2 Portable (Nippon Ichi Software) 80,927
73. [NDS] Aibou DS (Tecmo) 79,935
74. [PS3] Killzone 2 (SCE) 78,482
75. [WII] Wii Music (Nintendo) 77,384 (401,266)
76. [PS2] Super Robot Taisen Z Special Disc (Bandai Namco Games) 76,752
77. [PS2] Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (Bandai Namco Games) 75,505 (199,196)
78. [NDS] Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2 (Bandai Namco Games) 75,212
79. [PSP] Kidou Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabou - Axis no Kyoui V (Bandai Namco Games) 75,042
80. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2009 (Konami) 74,415

81. [PSP] Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (SCE) 74,279
82. [PS2] Amagami (Enterbrain) 73,415
83. [NDS] Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou: Meguri au Futari no Meitantei (Bandai Namco Games) 72,950
84. [NDS] Sunday x Magazine Nettou! Dream Nine (Konami) 71,843
85. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue: Spec III (SCE) 71,337 (295,174)
86. [360] Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (PLATINUM) (Bandai Namco Games) 69,893 (111,773)
87. [NDS] Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi o Yobu - Nendororo~n Daihenshin (Bandai Namco Games) 68,806
88. [NDS] Metal Fight Beyblade (Hudson) 68,082
89. [NDS] Bokujou Monogatari: Youkoso Kaze no Bazaar e (Marvelous Entertainment) 67,662 (115,844)
90. [360] Beautiful Katamari (PLATINUM) (Bandai Namco Games) 66,992 (108,484)

91. [PS2] Kidou Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabou - Axis no Kyoui V (Bandai Namco Games) 66,750
92. [NDS] Suikoden Tierkreis (Konami) 65,798 (155,777)
93. [NDS] Shining Force Feather (Sega) 62,907
94. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Konami) 62,095
95. [WII] Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo) 61,718 (1,808,831)
96. [NDS] Nintendogs: Shiba & Friends/Dachs & Friends/Chihuahua & Friends (Nintendo) 58,041 (1,909,025)
97. [NDS] Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon! (Bandai Namco Games) 57,851 (582,678)
98. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (Sega) 57,842
99. [PSP] Zill O'll Infinite Plus (Koei) 57,652
100. [NDS] Mario Party DS (Nintendo) 57,586 (1,889,851)

MC 2009-06-29 and Famitsu 2009-06-22: Things of Note

2009-07-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 238 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 192.1 weeks (November 3, 2003), where DS was at 102.4 weeks (November 15, 2006), and where GBA was at 160.9 weeks (April 17, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 186 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.4 weeks (January 9, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.8 weeks (August 4, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.6 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 138 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 46.3 weeks (January 16, 2001), where PSP was at 69.2 weeks (April 3, 2006), where GCN was at 127.8 weeks (February 20, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.9 weeks (August 4, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 135 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.3 weeks (February 11, 2003), where DS was at 77.3 weeks (May 23, 2006), where PS2 was at 117.0 weeks (May 26, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.1 weeks (February 25, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 35 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 47.0 weeks (January 4, 2004) and where DSL was at 17.1 weeks (June 26, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 62.3 / 37.7 bring total shares to 68.2 / 31.8. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 436.6 weeks (November 16, 2017).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 34.4 / 65.6 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 367.4 weeks (July 20, 2016).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 31.0 / 69.0 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 437.9 weeks (November 26, 2017).

Week over week, everything is a little up except PS3.

Through the first twenty-seven weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -62.9%
DSL+DSi: +3.0%
PS2: -50.5%
PS3: +6.3%
PSP: -45.5%
X360: +204.7%

Home hardware: -39.1%
Portable hardware: -24.6%
Sum of all hardware: -30.6%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

Of course the big game of the week is Wii Sports Resort.

It (3615) has the biggest start of any "Wii" game yet. You can tell here that most of them had fewer days of availability on their first week, but the only one which is higher even through week two is Wii Fit (2674).

This also pushes the series as a whole past 10 million units.

BlazBlue did surprisingly well for a 2D fighter. It's something of a successor to Guilty Gear, and with combined PS3/X360 sales of 48K had a better first week than any Guilty Gear since 2002's PS2 Guilty Gear XX.

With so many new games this week, there was only one return from off the chart. Infinite Space went from being #1 to #39 back to #22. Bit of a supply situation there.

Famitsu Software Pie note: Thanks to Wii Sports, this is the first week that Wii has been the #1 software platform since Mario Kart Wii's second week back in April 2008.

UK - Fight Night Round 4 Edges Tiger Woods '10

2009-07-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

New titles this week include Tiger Woods PGA Tour '10 and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 – EA
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
6. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
7. The Sims 3 – EA
8. Prototype – Activision Blizzard
9. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
10. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA

11. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
12. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
13. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
14. EA Sports Active – EA
15. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
16. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
17. FIFA 09 – EA
18. Overlord II – Codemasters
19. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
20. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo

21. Wii Play – Nintendo
22. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
23. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
24. Infamous – Sony
25. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
26. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
27. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack – Bethesda Softworks
28. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
29. Guitar Hero: Metallica – Activision Blizzard
30. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts

31. MySims Racing – EA
32. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
33. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
34. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
35. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires – Koei
36. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
37. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
38. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
39. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
40. Football Manager 2009 - Sega

MC 2009-06-22 and Famitsu 2009-06-15: Things of Note

2009-07-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 237 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 191.1 weeks (October 26, 2003), where DS was at 102.2 weeks (November 13, 2006), and where GBA was at 160.1 weeks (April 12, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 185 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.3 weeks (January 8, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.6 weeks (August 2, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.6 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 137 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 45.9 weeks (January 13, 2001), where PSP was at 68.9 weeks (April 1, 2006), where GCN was at 126.5 weeks (February 12, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.7 weeks (August 3, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 134 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.1 weeks (February 10, 2003), where DS was at 77.2 weeks (May 22, 2006), where PS2 was at 116.6 weeks (May 24, 2002), and where PSP was at 167.7 weeks (February 22, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 34 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 46.8 weeks (January 2, 2004) and where DSL was at 16.8 weeks (June 24, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 62.9 / 37.1 bring total shares to 68.2 / 31.8. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 534.5 weeks (September 26, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 33.8 / 66.2 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 373.5 weeks (August 25, 2016).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 34.2 / 65.8 are the best Wii has done relative to PS3 since the first week of the year. These bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 432.2 weeks (October 10, 2017).

Week over week, there's no uniformity in up and down, and Wii is the only one to change by more than 10%.

Through the first twenty-six weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.4%
DSL+DSi: +2.6%
PS2: -49.7%
PS3: +7.0%
PSP: -45.6%
X360: +216.7%

Home hardware: -39.1%
Portable hardware: -24.9%
Sum of all hardware: -30.7%

Last year:

This year:

So with Media Create we now have 26 sales weeks of 2009. Usually this would be the clear end of one half of the year, and while 2009 is an odd 53-week year, it's still about as close as we get. So I'm returning to a comparison I did a few times earlier in the year but haven't in a few months. This looks at the first 26 weeks of each DS-and-later system for each year, to see how things are stacking up not just in comparison with each other this year, but with each others in previous years.


DS   2007: 3,971,518
DS   2006: 3,546,051
PSP  2008: 2,135,961
Wii  2007: 1,954,852
Wii  2008: 1,699,410
DS   2009: 1,656,077
DS   2008: 1,613,620
PSP  2009: 1,161,825
PSP  2007: 1,083,147
DS   2005: 1,071,450
PSP  2005: 1,000,071
PSP  2006:   920,939
Wii  2009:   622,169
PS3  2009:   589,937
PS3  2008:   551,318
PS3  2007:   492,931
X360 2009:   229,608
X360 2007:   118,583
X360 2008:    72,509
X360 2006:    56,961

No surprise that DS's craziest two years take the top two spots. X360 takes the bottom spots, and PS3 takes the bottom-except-for-X360 spots. In between those extremes is a mish-mash of PSP, DS, and Wii.

Looking at this year's numbers in particular, we can see that X360 has by far its best start. PS3 has by little its best start. PSP and DS are middling, neither the best or worst among their historical performances. Wii is quite low, not only being the worst Wii start by far, but also the worst first 26 weeks for anything that isn't an HD console.

Famitsu Software Stuff

As the big two leggy games of late 2007/early 2008, it's been noticed that Monster Hunter Portable 2G is slowly catching up to Wii Fit. It was actually ahead at one point, but then its legs slowed down until the Best rerelease. Anyway, as long as I was looking at a couple titles in that range, I noticed there were a few more even older titles in the same area. They show up lower and more infrequently on the charts anymore, so both Mario Kart DS and Wii Sports could end up topped by Wii Fit and Monster Hunter 2G by the end of the year.

Speaking of long-time leggy games, it appears that Taiko no Tatsujin Wii has recently passed up both DS games. However, since they don't show up on a weekly basis but seem to get nice boosts whenever they do show up there or on a large Top X list, it's quite likely they're both actually still ahead. The last time I brought up these three I said it looked like they were going to meet around 600K. Still sounds about right.

MC 2009-06-15 and Famitsu 2009-06-08: Things of Note

2009-07-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 236 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 190.1 weeks (October 19, 2003), where DS was at 102.0 weeks (November 12, 2006), and where GBA was at 159.4 weeks (April 7, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 184 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.1 weeks (January 7, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.3 weeks (July 31, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.5 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 136 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 45.6 weeks (January 11, 2001), where PSP was at 68.6 weeks (March 31, 2006), where GCN was at 125.6 weeks (February 2, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.6 weeks (August 2, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 133 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.0 weeks (February 9, 2003), where DS was at 77.1 weeks (May 22, 2006), where PS2 was at 116.3 weeks (May 21, 2002), and where PSP was at 167.4 weeks (February 20, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 33 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 46.6 weeks (January 1, 2004) and where DSL was at 16.6 weeks (June 22, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 62.3 / 37.7 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 512.8 weeks (April 20, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 39.4 / 60.6 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 319.0 weeks (August 2, 2015).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 34.8 / 65.2 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 470.9 weeks (July 1, 2018).

Week over week, everything is slightly up except X360, which is slightly down.

Through the first twenty-five weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.6%
DSL+DSi: +2.9%
PS2: -49.6%
PS3: +8.5%
PSP: -45.4%
X360: +232.1%

Home hardware: -38.9%
Portable hardware: -24.6%
Sum of all hardware: -30.4%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

Monster Hunter G Wii popped back on the charts this week; this is probably the last time. It looks like it should definitely have the juice to do another 12K and pass up the PS2 Monster Hunter G, but with MH3 around the corner I'd say there's pretty much no chance for it to do the additional 56K needed to pass up the original PS2 Monster Hunter, which it fell behind on the third week.

Wii Sports Resort anticipation? This week sees appearances by sometimes-charters Wii Sports (up to 3.52 million now) and Deca Sporta 2 (up to 0.05 million almost).
[quote=HK-47">I dont see why Tales keeps getting brought up as a big title. The best selling Tales game recently was a spinoff on PSP. 200k isnt big if we dont lower standards.[/quote">
In the world of today, 200K is big for a third party game. A game hitting 200K today would be within the top 20 console third party games of the generation, or top 10 for Wii. There's also that a Wii Tales already surpassed 200K with what was clearly not a full-out effort, so with a bigger title and a few million more people to sell to we wonder how much higher it could go. Is PSP really the Tales system now? Or is there still a large market for Tales on a leading home console that just hasn't been properly tapped since a 2005 PS2 original and a 2006 PS2 remake?

UK - Fight Night Round 4 Fights for the Top Spot

2009-06-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

UK Top 40 Software

This is the first time a boxing title has taken the top spot on the software charts.

New releases this week: Fight Night Round 4 debuts at number 1, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at number 6, Overlord II at number 17, and Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits at number 18.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
2. Prototype – Activision Blizzard
3. The Sims 3 – EA
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
7. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
8. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
9. EA Sports Active – EA
10. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony

11. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
12. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
13. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
14. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
15. FIFA 09 – EA
16. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
17. Overlord II – Codemasters
18. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
19. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
20. Wii Play – Nintendo

21. Infamous – Sony
22. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts
23. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
24. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
25. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
26. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
27. Arma II – 505 Games
28. MySims Racing – EA
29. Guitar Hero: Metallica – Activision Blizzard
30. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega

31. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires – Koei
32. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
33. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
34. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
35. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
36. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
37. Spore: Galactic Adventures – EA
38. Tales of Vesperia – Atari
39. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
40. Star Ocean: The Last Hope

UK - Prototype Edges The Sims 3 for Top Honors

2009-06-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Activision has finally scored its first number 1 spot on the UK Top 40 Software chart, pushing The Sims 3 down to 2nd place. Sales of Prototype were down 20%, and sales of The Sims 3 dropped 49%.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game, a new release from Texas-based Terminal Reality, debuts at number 4 on the chart.

The price drop on Call of Duty: World at War helped to boost sales by 59% last week, pushing the title up to 5th place from 7th.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings jumped from number 32 up to number 13 this past week. Infamous dropped from number 9 to number 18. Resident Evil 5 also reappears on the list at number 20, right below new release Arma II from 505 Games.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
2. The Sims 3 – EA
3. Wii Fit – Nintendo
4. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
5. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
6. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
7. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
8. EA Sports Active – EA
9. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
10. Grand Slam Tennis – EA

11. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
12. FIFA 09 – EA
13. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts
14. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
15. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
16. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
17. Guitar Hero: Metallica – Activision Blizzard
18. Infamous – Sony
19. Arma II – 505 Games
20. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom

21. Wii Play – Nintendo
22. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
23. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
24. Terminator Salvation – Warner Bros. Interactive
25. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
26. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
27. Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy – Ubisoft
28. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
29. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
30. Star Ocean: The Last Hope – Square Enix Europe

31. Walk With Me! Know Your Walking Routine? – Nintendo
32. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
33. Fuel – Codemasters
34. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
35. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
36. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – Koch Media
37. Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum – Koch Media
38. Big Family Games – THQ
39. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
40. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive

MC 2009-06-08 and Famitsu 2009-06-01: Things of Note

2009-06-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 235 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 189.0 weeks (October 12, 2003), where DS was at 101.8 weeks (November 10, 2006), and where GBA was at 158.8 weeks (April 3, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 183 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.0 weeks (January 6, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.0 weeks (July 29, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.5 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 135 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 45.3 weeks (January 9, 2001), where PSP was at 68.4 weeks (March 29, 2006), where GCN was at 124.8 weeks (January 31, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.5 weeks (August 1, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 132 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 98.5 weeks (February 6, 2003), where DS was at 77.1 weeks (May 22, 2006), where PS2 was at 116.1 weeks (May 20, 2002), and where PSP was at 167.1 weeks (February 18, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 32 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 46.4 weeks (December 31, 2003) and where DSL was at 16.4 weeks (June 20, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 61.1 / 38.9 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 530.9 weeks (August 17, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 44.5 / 55.5 bring total shares to 24.7 / 75.3. This is the highest weekly share X360 has had relative to PS3 among the weeks where it didn't actually outsell PS3. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 267.5 weeks (July 31, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 35.2 / 64.8 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 486.5 weeks (October 11, 2018).

Week over week, nothing fluctuates more than 2.2K in either direction.

Through the first twenty-four weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

PS3 takes a big dive this week. Last week it was 27.5% ahead of the year before; this week it is down to 10.8%. This is because last year's numbers just hit the MGS4 bump.

Wii: -63.9%
DSL+DSi: +2.4%
PS2: -49.8%
PS3: +10.8%
PSP: -45.1%
X360: +234.8%

Home hardware: -38.8%
Portable hardware: -24.7%
Sum of all hardware: -30.4%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

So though it passed this several weeks ago, thanks to popping back up on the Top 30 we can see for sure that Animal Crossing: Wild World (95) has joined the 5+ million club, joining Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire (855), New Super Mario Bros. (241), and Pokémon Diamond/Pearl (261).

Looking at a launch-aligned version, we can see that Wild World took a lot longer to reach 5 million than those other games. Diamond/Pearl took about 200 days. Ruby/Sapphire about 400 days. NSMB about 600 days. Wild World about 1300 days.

The only modern game left in my database over 4 million but not over 5 million is Brain Age 2... which I believe actually passed 5 million earlier this year, but its failure to make any Top 30 lists since January 2008 makes it harder to keep track of.

Out of sight since February, Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel (3293) has in the between gained about 50K. As was the case when last we saw it it's tracking above the first game (271) but below the second (2673).

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (3586) continues performing... adamantly in-between. It's not doing as well as the original (984) or second (2352) PS2 games, but its second week number puts it past the total of GBA Chain of Memories (1645) and all Final Mix releases.

UK - 2nd Week of Top Sales for The Sims 3

2009-06-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

With sales nearly cut in half in the last week, The Sims 3 remains atop the UK Top 40 software chart, followed by Radical Entertainment’s latest blockbuster, Prototype.

Sales of Red Faction: Guerrilla were down 31%, as the title dropped to 3rd place. Call of Duty: World at War jumped back into the top 10, from 16th to 7th place.

EA’s new Grand Slam Tennis, the first game available with Wii MotionPlus technology, lands at number 13 on the chart.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. The Sims 3 – EA
2. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
3. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
6. EA Sports Active – EA
7. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
8. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
9. Infamous – Sony
10. FIFA 09 – EA

11. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
12. Guitar Hero: Metallica – Activision Blizzard
13. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
14. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
15. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
16. Terminator Salvation – Warner Bros. Interactive
17. Wii Play – Nintendo
18. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
19. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
20. Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum – Koch Media

21. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – Koch Media
22. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
23. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
24. Fuel – Codemasters
25. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
26. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
27. Star Ocean: The Last Hope – Square Enix Europe
28. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
29. Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy – Ubisoft
30. Night at the Museum 2 – Majesco

31. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
32. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts
33. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
34. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
35. Big Family Games – THQ
36. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
37. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
38. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Take 2
39. Walk with Me! Know Your Walking Routine? – Nintendo
40. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 - Konami

MC 2009-06-01 and Famitsu 2009-05-25: Things of Note

2009-06-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 234 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 187.9 weeks (October 5, 2003), where DS was at 101.6 weeks (November 9, 2006), and where GBA was at 158.3 weeks (March 30, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 182 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.9 weeks (January 6, 2002), where PS3 was at 37.9 weeks (July 28, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.5 weeks (January 3, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 134 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 45.0 weeks (January 7, 2001), where PSP was at 68.2 weeks (March 27, 2006), where GCN was at 124.1 weeks (January 25, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.3 weeks (July 31, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 131 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 98.0 weeks (February 2, 2003), where DS was at 77.0 weeks (May 21, 2006), where PS2 was at 115.9 weeks (May 18, 2002), and where PSP was at 166.9 weeks (February 16, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 31 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 46.2 weeks (December 29, 2003) and where DSL was at 16.1 weeks (June 19, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 60.5 / 30.6 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 490.8 weeks (November 3, 2018).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 39.4 / 60.6 bring total shares to 24.6 / 75.4. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 323.4 weeks (August 19, 2015).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 37.2 / 62.8 bring total shares to 28.3 / 71.7. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 477.8 weeks (August 4, 2018).

Week over week, DS comes down from its bump and the rest are pretty flat.

Through the first twenty-three weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -64.0%
DSL+DSi: +2.2%
PS2: -49.7%
PS3: +27.5%
PSP: -44.7%
X360: +233.6%

Home hardware: -37.1%
Portable hardware: -24.4%
Sum of all hardware: -29.5%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days had a great first week. And actually, it had only half as many days of availability as most games have their first week. Few games have only two days to sell on their first week, and among those that are in my records only 3 of them did better than Kingdom Hearts. Those games in chronological order are Gran Turismo 3, Dragon Quest VIII, and Pokémon Platinum. Of course, it's perfectly possible that many games that sold large amounts in a normal four day period would have bigger two day periods if we actually had that data.

Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (3521) once again ridiculously closely mirrors the sales pattern of Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 (2874).

Probably thanks to some price drop, New Play Control! Pikmin 2 has a big jump on the charts, from #53 the previous two weeks to #19 this week.

Famitsu Software Pie: Thanks to Kingdom Hearts, DS takes 64.6% of software sales this week. This is the biggest percentage DS has had since September 2008.

Media Create Sales: 06/01 - 06/07

2009-06-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

01./01. [NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix) - 106,000 / 401,000 (-64%)
02./02. [NDS] Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth) (Capcom) - 42,000 / 214,000 (-76%)
03./03. [PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires (Koei) - 27,000 / 103,000 (-64%)
04./00. [WII] Arc Rise Fantasia (Marvelous) - 26,000 / NEW
05./04. [NDS] Sloane and MacHale's Mysterious Story (Level 5) - 26,000 / 102,000 (-21%)
06./00. [PSP] Evangelion: Jo (Prologue) (Namco Bandai) - 15,000 / NEW
07./11. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST) (Capcom) - 14,000 / 722,000
08./05. [PSP] Yuusha 30 (Half-Minute Hero) (Marvelous) - 9,000 / 36,000 (-66%)
09./13. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 9,000 / 3,444,000
10./09. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 (SEGA) - 9,000 / 65,000 (-47%)

11./14. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Pokemon Co.)
12./15. [NDS] Made in Ore (Wario Ware) (Nintendo)
13./17. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (Nintendo)
14./21. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
15./08. [PS3] H.A.W.X. (Ubisoft)
16./00. [PS2] Evangelion: Jo (Prologue) (Namco Bandai)
17./10. [360] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires (Koei)
18./20. [WII] Taiko Drum Master Wii (Namco Bandai)
19./16. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Namco Bandai)
20./25. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
21./18. [PSP] Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (SCEI)
22./23. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon Co.)
23./19. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
24./22. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom)
25./32. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
26./24. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
27./35. [NDS] Metal Fight Beyblade (Hudson)
28./31. [WII] Winning Eleven Playmaker 2009 (Konami)
29./28. [PS3] The Last Guy (SCEI)
30./39. [NDS] Phoenix Wright (NEW BEST) (Capcom)

Thanks to donny2112 for this week's translation.

MC 2009-05-25 and Famitsu 2009-05-18: Things of Note

2009-06-10T04:45:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 233 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 186.8 weeks (September 27, 2003), where DS was at 101.3 weeks (November 7, 2006), and where GBA was at 157.7 weeks (March 26, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 181 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.9 weeks (January 5, 2002), where PS3 was at 37.7 weeks (July 27, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.4 weeks (January 3, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 133 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 44.9 weeks (January 6, 2001), where PSP was at 67.9 weeks (March 25, 2006), where GCN was at 123.3 weeks (January 20, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.2 weeks (July 30, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 130 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 97.5 weeks (January 30, 2003), where DS was at 77.0 weeks (May 21, 2006), where PS2 was at 115.7 weeks (May 17, 2002), and where PSP was at 166.6 weeks (February 14, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 30 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 45.9 weeks (December 27, 2003) and where DSL was at 15.8 weeks (June 16, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 69.4 / 30.6 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 441.9 weeks (November 19, 2017).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 28.1 / 71.9 bring total shares to 24.6 / 75.4. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 440.3 weeks (December 29, 2019).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 41.1 / 58.9 bring total shares to 28.3 / 71.7. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 390.6 weeks (November 25, 2016).

Week over week, everything is up a little; except for DS which is up a lot.

Our old friend Pac-Man makes a short-lived and painful-looking return this week.

Through the first twenty-two weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -64.1%
DSL+DSi: +1.7%
PS2: -50.1%
PS3: +28.4%
PSP: -44.4%
X360: +235.2%

Home hardware: -37.0%
Portable hardware: -24.4%
Sum of all hardware: -29.4%

Last year:

This year:

Famitsu Software Stuff

Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (3521) is still the top dog in the series after week two... but it's mostly notable for how closely it's mirroring the sales of Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 (2874), currently the best seller in the series.

Wii Monster Hunter G is no longer outselling the equivalent weeks from launch of its PS2 counterpart, but it has passed where the PS2 version was when it dropped out of the Top 30.

Animal Crossing: Wild World probably hit 5 million this week. Last week it sold 3.7K had had 1.5K left to go, but it missed making this week's Top 30.

This week #30 sold 3,162 units. This isn't a record low, but it's among the worst of recent times. There was one worse week last year, when the week of 2008-10-06 #30 sold 2,812. Before that we'd have to go back to 2005, where it was worse than this week seven times. Garaph doesn't currently list weekly data for systems earlier than PS2 and GBA, so it's possible that I'm missing counting some weeks where there was, say, a PS1 game hanging out in #30. But from what I do have, the lowest #30 appears to be 2,449 the week of 2004-05-10.

Thanks to overall low sales, we get more updates of some games which have been leggily trekking on unnoticed for a few months:

Metal Fight Beyblade has a low overall total, but I always find games which seem to sell at such a constant rate interesting.

Kirby Super Star Ultra Deluxe has gained about 50K since we last saw it in early March.

Momotarou Dentetsu 20th Anniversary has also gained about 50K, though in this case it's been working on it since February.

Though this one actually reappeared on the charts last week, this week Wii Sports passes 3.5 million.

At 4,041, Takt of Magic is the lowest first week we've seen for a Nintendo game on Wii--at least among those that actually made the Top 30 on opening week. Before this the low was Captain Rainbow's 6,361.

UK - The Sims 3 Wastes No Time Taking 1st Place

2009-06-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

After a five-year hiatus, The Sims franchise has returned, and the latest installment, The Sims 3, wasted no time jumping to number 1 on the UK Top 40 Software Chart. This marks the fourth biggest opening week ever in the UK for a PC title.

Critically acclaimed Red Faction: Guerrilla, the third installment in its own franchise, debuts at number 2. Recent release Infamous has dropped to number 6 on the chart. THQ’s latest UFC offering drops from 1st to 3rd place.

Fuel makes its debut at number 12 on the charts, from developer Asobo Studio.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. The Sims 3 – EA
2. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
3. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
4. EA Sports Active – EA
5. Wii Fit – Nintendo
6. Infamous – Sony
7. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
8. Guitar Hero: Metallica – Activision Blizzard
9. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
10. Terminator Salvation – Warner Bros. Interactive

11. FIFA 09 – EA
12. Fuel – Codemasters
13. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
14. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
15. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – Koch Media
16. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
17. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
18. Star Ocean: The Last Hope – Square Enix Europe
19. Wii Play – Nintendo
20. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest

21. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
22. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Activision Blizzard
23. Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy – Ubisoft
24. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
25. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
26. Big Family Games – THQ
27. Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum – Koch Media
28. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
29. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
30. Night at the Museum 2 – Majesco

31. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
32. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
33. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
34. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
35. Hannah Montana: The Movie – Disney Interactive Studios
36. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
37. Halo Wars – Microsoft
38. Gears of War 2 – Microsoft
39. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
40. Resident Evil 5 - Capcom

Media Create Sales: 05/25 - 05/31

2009-06-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

01. [NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix) 295,000 / NEW
02. [NDS] Gyakuten Kenji (Capcom) 172,000 / NEW
03. [PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires (KOEI) 76,000 / NEW
04. [NDS] Sloan to Michael: Nazo no Monogatari (Level 5) 33,000 / 76,000
05. [PSP] Yuusha 30 (Marvelous) 26,000 / NEW
06. [NDS] Higurashi 3 (Alchemist) 23,000 / NEW
07. [PSP] Utawarerumono Portable (Aqua Plus) 22,000 / NEW
08. [PS3] H.A.W.X. (Ubisoft) 19,000 / NEW
09. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 (SEGA) 17,000 / 56,000
10. [360] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires (KOEI) 16,000 / NEW

11. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom)
12. [NDS] Suzumiya Haruhi Dance Game (SEGA)
13. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo)
14. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Nintendo)
15. [NDS] Made in Ore (Wario Ware) (Nintendo)
16. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Namco Bandai)
17. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo)
18. [PSP] Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (SCEI)
19. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
20. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
21. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
22. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom)
23. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon)
24. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
25. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
26. [NDS] Tactics Layer (D3)
27. [360] Battle Station: Pacific (Spike)
28. [PS3] The Last Guy (SCEI)
29. [360] Mass Effect (Microsoft)
30. [PSP] Memories off 6: T-Wave (5pb)

MC 2009-05-18 and Famitsu 2009-05-11: Things of Note

2009-05-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 232 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 185.9 weeks (September 21, 2003), where DS was at 101.1 weeks (November 6, 2006), and where GBA was at 157.3 weeks (March 23, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 180 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.9 weeks (January 5, 2002), where PS3 was at 37.6 weeks (July 26, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.4 weeks (January 3, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 132 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 44.8 weeks (January 5, 2001), where PSP was at 67.7 weeks (March 24, 2006), where GCN was at 122.7 weeks (January 16, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.0 weeks (July 29, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 129 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 97.1 weeks (January 26, 2003), where DS was at 76.9 weeks (May 20, 2006), where PS2 was at 115.5 weeks (May 15, 2002), and where PSP was at 166.3 weeks (February 12, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 29 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 45.7 weeks (December 26, 2003) and where DSL was at 15.6 weeks (June 15, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 58.9 / 41.1 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 516.1 weeks (April 15, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 26.1 / 73.9 bring total shares to 24.5 / 75.5. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 553.0 weeks (December 29, 2019).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 40.2 / 59.8 bring total shares to 28.3 / 71.7. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 443.5 weeks (November 23, 2017).

Week over week, things are pretty flat.

Through the first twenty-one weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -64.1%
DSL+DSi: -0.8%
PS2: -50.4%
PS3: +28.3%
PSP: -44.0%
X360: +238.1%

Home hardware: -36.8%
Portable hardware: -25.1%
Sum of all hardware: -29.8%

Wii passes 8 million after 130 weeks.

Famitsu Software Stuff

RETURN OF THE EVERGREENS. New software isn't exactly lighting up the charts, so this chart is full of oldies. Some of them are always on the list, some come and go, but a few of these haven't been seen in a Top 30 for months. This week's list includes:

2005's Animal Crossing: Wild World (at 4,998,531)
2005's Mario Kart DS (first time since January)

2006's New Super Mario Bros.
2006's Wii Sports (first time since February)

2007's Wii Fit

2008's Monster Hunter Portable 2 G
2008's Mario Kart Wii
2008's Rhythm Tengoku Gold
2008's Pokémon Platinum
2008's Little Magician's Magic Adventure
2008's Animal Crossing: City Folk
2008's Taiko no Tatsujin Wii

The Bleach: Heat the Soul series has never been one of PSP's top sellers, but it has been prolific and pretty steady. Heat the Soul 6 (3521) looks to have the best first week in the series at 41K, but they've almost all started in the 35-40K range so it's not by much.

Media Create Sales: 05/18 - 05/24

2009-05-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Kinda cool cover, huh?

01. [NDS] Sloan to Michael: Nazo no Monogatari (Level 5) 43,000 / NEW
02. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 (SEGA) 39,000 / NEW
03. [360] Mass Effect (Microsoft) 17,000 / NEW
04. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 14,000 / 692,000
05. [PSP] Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (SCEI) 13,000 / 54,000
06. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Namco Bandai) 12,000 / 148,000
07. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Nintendo) 12,000 / 311,000
08. [NDS] Made in Ore (Wario Ware) (Nintendo) 11,000 / 123,000
09. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 10,000 / 3,424,000
10. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 9,000 / 624,000

11. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
12. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
13. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom)
14. [PSP] Grow Lancer (Atlus)
15. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
16. [WII] Winning Eleven Playmaker 2009 (Konami)
17. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon)
18. [NDS] Yuuzai x Muzai (Namco Bandai)
19. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
20. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
21. [PS2] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami)
22. [PSP] SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 (SNK Playmore)
23. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Konami)
24. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo)
25. [WII] Tact of Magic (Nintendo)
26. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami)
27. [PSP] Persona (Atlus)
28. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
29. [WII] Deca Sports 2 (Hudson)
30. [PSP] ToraDora Portable! (Namco Bandai)

MC 2009-05-11 and Famitsu 2009-04-27 & 2009-05-04: Things of Note

2009-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 231 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 184.9 weeks (September 13, 2003), where DS was at 100.9 weeks (November 4, 2006), and where GBA was at 156.7 weeks (March 19, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 179 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.8 weeks (January 5, 2002), where PS3 was at 37.5 weeks (July 25, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.4 weeks (January 3, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 131 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 44.7 weeks (January 5, 2001), where PSP was at 67.4 weeks (March 22, 2006), where GCN was at 122.2 weeks (January 13, 2004), and where Wii was at 34.9 weeks (July 28, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 128 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 96.7 weeks (January 24, 2003), where DS was at 76.8 weeks (May 20, 2006), where PS2 was at 115.3 weeks (May 14, 2002), and where PSP was at 166.1 weeks (February 10, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 28 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 45.5 weeks (December 25, 2003) and where DSL was at 15.4 weeks (June 14, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 57.6 / 42.4 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 495.0 weeks (November 12, 2018).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 21.8 / 78.2 bring total shares to 24.5 / 75.5. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 657.0 weeks (December 19, 2021).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 43.4 / 56.6 bring total shares to 28.3 / 71.7. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 417.3 weeks (May 17, 2017).

Week over week, everything is down. Down around 40% seems the norm.

Through the first twenty weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -64.0%
DSL+DSi: -0.9%
PS2: -50.6%
PS3: +28.4%
PSP: -43.5%
X360: +242.9%

Home hardware: -36.4%
Portable hardware: -24.8%
Sum of all hardware: -29.5%

It's worth noting that with the string of large weeks over, X360's YTD increase over last year seems to have peaked. This week it's +242.9%, compared to +246.2% last week.

This week is Wii's lowest hardware number since the week of 2009-04-13.
This week is DSL's lowest hardware number since the week of 2008-11-10.
This week is DSi's lowest hardware number since the week of 2009-03-09.
This week is PS2's lowest hardware number since... well, it appears to be a new low among Media Create records, though in the Famitsu numbers that go further back it was lower during intense shortages the week of 2000-11-27.
This week is PS3's lowest hardware number since the week of 2008-10-20.
This week is PSP's lowest hardware number since the week of 2008-10-06.
This week is X360's lowest hardware number since the week of 2008-09-01.

So I missed this when it was true news a few weeks ago. I think with Wii's continued low sales it came earlier than I expected.

As of the week starting 2009-04-20, Media Create has PSP hardware ahead of Wii since the week of Wii's launch.

Famitsu Software Stuff

Monster Hunter G Wii (3504) continues doing a little better each week than its 2005 PS2 counterpart (2077) did.

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii has always done well, but (thanks to Golden Week and/or the slight increase in Wii hardware sales?) after five weeks of increase it's just had its biggest week since January.

After 3 weeks of sales Disaster Report 3 (3506) is in much the same place after the first. That is, doing slightly better than the second (2419), but not as well as the first (935).

Deca Sporta 2 isn't exactly doing as well as the original... but it also seems to refuse to have much drop from week to week.

Still, after these four weeks of steady sales, it's only to about half of the first game's first week.

Media Create Sales: 05/11 - 05/17

2009-05-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

01. [PSP] Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (SCEI) 41,000 / NEW
02. [PSP] Grow Lancer (Atlus) 23,000 / NEW
03. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Namco Bandai) 20,000 / 136,000
04. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Nintendo) 15,000 / 299,000
05. [NDS] Made in Ore (Wario Ware) (Nintendo) 15,000 / 112,000
06. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 15,000 / 678,000
07. [WII] Winning Eleven Playmaker 2009 (Konami) 14,000 / NEW
08. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 11,000 / 3,414,000
09. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 10,000 / 616,000
10. [PS2] Rack Pachi 6 (Tecmo) 9,000 / NEW

11. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom)
12. [PSP] ToraDora Portable! (Namco Bandai)
13. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
14. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
15. [PSP] Persona (Atlus)
16. [PS2] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami)
17. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
18. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon)
19. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
20. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo)
21. [PS3] Killzone 2 (SCEI)
22. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
23. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami)
24. [NDS] A Ressha de Gyoukou DS (Artdink)
25. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Konami)
26. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (SEGA)
27. [WII] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami)
28. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo)
29. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
30. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)

UK - 16 Top Weeks for Wii Fit; Battlestations: Pacific Debuts at 10

2009-05-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

With 16 total weeks at number 1, Wii Fit is helping Nintendo dominate the UK software charts, with Mario Kart Wii, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and Wii Play rounding out the top 10.

Sales of X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped 42%, placing the title at third behind EA’s FIFA 09.

Battlestations: Pacific makes a debut at number 10 this past week, the latest offering from Eidos Studios Hungary.

Halo 3 has reappeared in the top 40 at number 33.

Rank – Title – Publisher
1. Wii Fit – Nintendo
2. FIFA 09 – EA
3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Activision Blizzard
4. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
5. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
6. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
7. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
8. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
9. Wii Play – Nintendo
10. Battlestations: Pacific – Eidos

11. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
12. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
13. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
14. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
15. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
16. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
17. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
18. Hannah Montana: The Movie – Disney
19. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
20. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2

21. The Godfather II – EA
22. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
23. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
24. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection – Sega
25. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania – THQ
26. Wheelman – Ubisoft
27. Killzone 2 – Sony
28. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
29. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 – EA
30. Monsters vs. Aliens – Activision Blizzard

31. Gears of War 2 – Microsoft
32. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
33. Halo 3 – Microsoft
34. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 – THQ
35. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
36. Halo Wars – Microsoft
37. Mystery Case Files: Millionheir – Nintendo
38. Tomb Raider: Underworld – Eidos
39. The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena – Atari
40. WSC Real 09: World Snooker Championship – Blade Interactive

US: Has the Wii Onslaught Against HD Market Share Stalled?

2009-05-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

US - Has the Wii reached its zenith of potential against the combined forces of Microsoft's 360 and Sony's PS3? Or is this just another lull in the cycle similar to the summer of 2007?

Will the Wii eventually pass both of them combined in the US or has it run out of time? As always, we'll know just a little more next month. Leave your thoughts in the comments section if you think you know the answers to any of these profound questions.

Click to Enlarge:

Famitsu 2009-04-20: Things of Note

2009-05-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 229 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 182.0 weeks (August 24, 2003), where DS was at 100.2 weeks (October 30, 2006), and where GBA was at 154.8 weeks (March 6, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 177 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.7 weeks (January 4, 2002), where PS3 was at 37.1 weeks (July 23, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.3 weeks (January 2, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 129 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 44.2 weeks (January 2, 2001), where PSP was at 66.4 weeks (March 15, 2006), where GCN was at 121.1 weeks (January 5, 2004), and where Wii was at 37.4 weeks (July 25, 2007).

So PS3 has finally escaped from what PS2 did in its launch calendar year, March-December.

Wii comparisons: After 126 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 95.7 weeks (January 17, 2003), where DS was at 76.6 weeks (May 18, 2006), where PS2 was at 114.6 weeks (May 9, 2002), and where PSP was at 165.5 weeks (February 6, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 26 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 45.0 weeks (December 21, 2003) and where DSL was at 14.8 weeks (June 10, 2006).

Famitsu Software Stuff

For those who have been watching the Media Create sales, these Famitsu ones will be even more old hat than usual, BUT HEY, now I can throw them into my graphs.

Monster Hunter G Wii (3504) starts off slightly stronger than the 2005 PS2 game it's a port of (2077).

PSP original Disaster Report 3 (3506) doesn't start as strong as the PS2 original (935), but stronger than the PS2 sequel (2419).

Though Animal Crossing Wild World has most recently been on the charts, this week it doesn't show up but City Folk does. City Folk has gained about 35K since we saw it last 1-2 months ago.

It refuses to leave the Top 10, but Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) is finally slowing down a little.

Famitsu Software Pie: With Monster Hunter G Wii has 27.6% of overall software sales, getting second place--to DS of course. This is its first second place and first week of over 20% since doing so throughout most of December and January.

NPD Results & Charts April 2009; Wii Approaches 20 Million Sold

2009-05-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

Japan: Wii Slides to Lowest Console Market Share in Two Years

2009-05-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

The last time the Wii had a lower lifetime console market share was April 2007.

MC 2009-05-04: Things of Note

2009-05-15T03:23:00.001-07:00

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 59.5 / 40.5 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 329.9 weeks (September 6, 2015).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 21.5 / 78.5 bring total shares to 24.5 / 75.5. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 417.4 weeks (May 11, 2017).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 43.1 / 56.9 cap PS3's string of Media Create weekly victories at 10. It's also the highest Wii number in over three months. This brings total shares to 28.2 / 71.8. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 261.8 weeks (May 17, 2014).

Week over week, Nintendo systems are slightly up, while everything else is slightly down.

Through the first nineteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -64.0%
DSL+DSi: -1.3%
PS2: -50.9%
PS3: +28.0%
PSP: -42.8%
X360: +246.2%

Home hardware: -36.3%
Portable hardware: -24.4%
Sum of all hardware: -29.2%

MC 2009-04-27: Things of Note

2009-05-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 53.3 / 46.7 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 285.8 weeks (October 25, 2014).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 23.7 / 76.3 bring total shares to 24.6 / 75.4. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 287.5 weeks (November 6, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 52.3 / 47.7 bring total shares to 28.2 / 71.8. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii ten weeks in a row. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 2,367.1 weeks (September 14, 2054). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 204.9 weeks (April 7, 2013).

Week over week, everything is up, though moreso the handhelds than the home consoles.

Through the first eighteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -64.0%
DSL+DSi: -2.2%
PS2: -51.6%
PS3: +25.9%
PSP: -42.3%
X360: +245.2%

Home hardware: -36.3%
Portable hardware: -24.4%
Sum of all hardware: -29.2%

Media Create Sales: 05/04 - 05/10 (Hardware)

2009-05-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

DSi - 55,382
PSP - 43,009
Wii - 24,397
PS3 - 18,483
DS Lite - 7,821
PS2 - 5,137
Xbox 360 - 5,068

Media Create Sales: 05/04 - 05/10

2009-05-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

01. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Nintendo) 44,000 / 283,000
02. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Namco Bandai) 41,000 / 115,000
03. [NDS] Made in Ore (Wario Ware) (Nintendo) 41,000 / 97,000
04. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 26,000 / 606,000
05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 23,000 / 663,000
06. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom) 23,000 / 195,000
07. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 20,000 / 3,403,000
08. [PS2] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami) 15,000 / 58,000
09. [PSP] Persona (Atlus) 14,000 / 93,000
10. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai) 14,000 / 498,000

11. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
12. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
13. [WII] Deca Sports 2 (Hudson)
14. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
15. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo)
16. [WII] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami)
17. [PS3] Killzone 2 (SCEI)
18. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
19. [PSP] ToraDora Portable! (Namco Bandai)
20. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon)
21. [NDS] Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Retsuden 3 (Takara Tommy)
22. [PSP] Disaster Report 3 (Irem)
23. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
24. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)
25. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Konami)
26. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami)
27. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo)
28. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo)
29. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (SEGA)
30. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)

Nintendo hardware shipments, calendar 2009 Q1 or fiscal 2009 Q4: Things of Note

2009-05-11T17:07:00.001-07:00

This quarter Wii surpassed SNES and became the second Nintendo home console to pass 50 million units shipped. About 11.5 million remain until it passes NES.

Very little movement in Japan this quarter.

At the end of 2008, Wii shipments were just below N64's final total in North America. With a quarter of over 3 million shipped, it's surpassed not only N64, but also SNES.

Wii long ago become the most successful Nintendo home console ever in Europe. This quarter still marks an interesting milestone, though, in that Wii has shipped more than NES and SNES combined. The previous four systems combined only come to 28.66 million. Wii has less than 10 million to go to pass that.

Though we are increasingly not near launch, there are still more Wiis available than any near-launch home console ever.

DS becomes the fourth gaming device to pass 100 million units shipped, if you count Game Boy and Game Boy Color together as does Nintendo. Current DS shipment numbers place it just below PS1.

Though neither DS nor Wii set an absolute worldwide shipping record for a January-February-March quarter this year, they were both among the best. Looking at the history of the top game machines around, here are the times when the first quarter of a calendar year went over 4 million. If GB/GBC or GBA ever had such a quarter we can't tell due to lack of quarterly shipment reports at their peaks, but making guesstimates based on their yearly or half-yearly numbers I doubt either would make this list.

PS2 2005: 6.08 M
DS  2008: 5.81 M
DS  2009: 5.56 M
Wii 2009: 5.43 M
DS  2007: 4.68 M
PS1 1998: 4.62 M
Wii 2008: 4.32 M
PS2 2001: 4.21 M

How about over the full fiscal year, though? In that case, DS and Wii did set records. As far as I can see, DS just had the best year for a portable system and Wii had the best year for a home console. Here are all years I know of over 20 million. Note that here 2009 indicates the year of April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009.

DS  2009: 31.18 M
DS  2008: 30.31 M
Wii 2009: 25.94 M
DS  2007: 23.56 M
PS2 2003: 22.52 M
PS2 2004: 20.10 M
PS1 1999: 21.60 M

If you want to check out old shipment information for yourself, I recommend trying out the Garaph shipment line graph and shipment bar graph tools.

UK - X-Men Origins: Wolverine Reflects Strong Film Opening

2009-05-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Raven Software’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine holds the number 2 spot for the 2nd week in a row on the UK Top 40 Software Chart.

Rhythm Paradise, with sales up 125% over week 1, is at number 10.

Following the Gamasutra announcement that Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise has sold 40 million units, Resident Evil 5 has moved to the 6th spot on the chart.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena has dropped from number 7 to number 28. With 3 more weeks at number 1, Wii Fit will equal the all time record holder, Eidos’ Who Wants to Be a Millionare.

Rank – Title – Publisher
1. Wii Fit – Nintendo
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Activision Blizzard
3. FIFA 09 – EA
4. Wii Play – Nintendo
5. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
6. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
7. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
8. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
10. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo

11. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
12. The Godfather II – EA
13. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
14. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
15. Killzone 2 – Sony
16. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
17. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
18. Hannah Montana: The Movie – Disney
19. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
20. Halo Wars – Microsoft

21. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
22. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
23. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
24. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
25. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection – Sega
26. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
27. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania – THQ
28. The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena – Atari
29. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 – EA
30. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo

31. WSC Real 09: World Snooker Championship – Blade Interactive
32. Wheelman – Ubisoft
33. Race Driver: Grid – Codemasters
34. WWE Smackdwon vs. Raw 2009 – THQ
35. Monsters vs. Aliens – Activision Blizzard
36. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Activision Blizzard
37. Gears of War 2 – Microsoft
38. Tomb Raider: Underworld – Eidos
39. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
40. Burnout Paradise - EA

Famitsu 2009-04-13: Things of Note

2009-05-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 228 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 180.8 weeks (August 16, 2003), where DS was at 99.9 weeks (October 28, 2006), and where GBA was at 154.0 weeks (February 29, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 176 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.7 weeks (January 4, 2002), where PS3 was at 37.0 weeks (July 22, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.2 weeks (January 1, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 128 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 43.9 weeks (December 30, 2000), where PSP was at 65.8 weeks (March 1, 2006), where GCN was at 120.9 weeks (January 3, 2004), and where Wii was at 34.1 weeks (July 23, 2007).

Note that the big PS3 week did push it into GCN 2004 territory, but it hasn't yet caught up to GameCube.

Wii comparisons: After 125 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 95.4 weeks (January 15, 2003), where DS was at 76.5 weeks (May 17, 2006), where PS2 was at 114.3 weeks (May 7, 2002), and where PSP was at 163.1 weeks (January 20, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 25 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 44.7 weeks (December 19, 2003) and where DSL was at 14.5 weeks (June 7, 2006).

Famitsu Software Stuff

A few sequels fail to do much this week.

Well, the latest Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is really a third version rather than a sequel, but whatever it is it doesn't start off anywhere near as well.

Deca Sporta 2 (3502) is a sequel, and has a first week about 1/8 of the first game (2823).

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) remains in the top 5. This is its first week below 20K, though.

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii passes 500K.

The Valkyria Chronicles BEST rerelease does even better this week.

Some of the top 30 was below 4,000 this week. The last time that happened was the week of October 13, 2008. It was actually pretty common from April through October last year, though prior to that it had't happened since 2006.

Famitsu Software Pie note: DS had over 50% of software sales this week. Though it is usually on top, this is the first time it's had over half since November.

Media Create Sales: 04/27 - 05/03

2009-05-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

01./00. [PSP] Persona (Atlus Co.) - 79,192 / NEW
02./00. [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyajin Raishuu (Namco Bandai) - 74,263 / NEW
03./00. [NDS] Made in Ore (Wario Ware) (Nintendo) - 56,174 / NEW
04./00. [PS2] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami) - 42,957 / NEW
05./02. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Pokemon Co.) - 42,950 / 239,000 (-21%)
06./01. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom) - 40,294 / 172,000 (-69%)
07./00. [PSP] ToraDora Portable! (Namco Bandai) - 38,365 / NEW
08./05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST) (Capcom) - 26,226 / 640,000 (+16%)
09./08. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (Nintendo) - 21,978 / 580,000 (+32%)
10./00. [WII] Jikkyou Power Pro Major League 2009 (Konami) - 16,550 / NEW

11./03. [PS3] Killzone 2 (SCEI)
12./09. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo)
13./07. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
14./04. [PSP] Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3: The Collapsing City and the Girl's Song (Disaster Report 3) (Irem)
15./00. [NDS] Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Retsuden 3 (Takara Tomy)
16./14. [WII] Taiko Drum Master Wii (Namco Bandai)
17./00. [PS2] D.C.I.F.: Da Capo Innocent Finale (Sweets)
18./19. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
19./00. [PS3] X-Blades (Ubisoft)
20./13. [WII] Deca Sporta 2: Wii de Sports 10 Shumoku! (Hudson)
21./00. [360] X-Blades (Ubisoft)
22./11. [NDS] A Ressha de Gyoukou DS (Take the A-Train DS) (Artdink)
23./18. [NDS] Rittai Picross (3D) (Nintendo)
24./12. [NDS] Pro Baseball Famista DS 2009 (Namco Bandai)
25./17. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2009 (#15) (Konami)
26./15. [PSP] Kidou Senshi Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Namco Bandai)
27./20. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (SEGA)
28./23. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon Co.)
29./21. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
30./16. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (Koei)
31./33. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
32./30. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo)
33./28. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo)
34./00. [PS3] Daikoukai Jidai Online: Cruz del Sur (Uncharted Waters Online) (Koei)
35./37. [PS3] Demon's Souls (SCEI)
36./31. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)
37./50. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
38./24. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)
39./00. [NDS] Jewel Pet: Cute Magic Fantasy (MTO)
40./25. [NDS] Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator World Championship 2009 (Konami)
41./34. [NDS] Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi (Little Magician's Magic Adventure) (Konami)
42./27. [PSP] Disgaea 2 Portable (Nippon Ichi Software)
43./40. [NDS] Metal Fight Beyblade (Hudson)
44./41. [NDS] Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Nendororon Daihenshin! (Namco Bandai)
45./00. [PSP] Final Approach 2: 1st Priority Portable (Princess Soft)
46./45. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
47./43. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master 2: The Seven Island Adventure (Namco Bandai)
48./26. [PSP] Fantasy Golf Pangya Portable (Takara Tomy)
49./39. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
50./00. [NDS] Dun-Dam: Dungeons & Dam (Acquire)

Thanks to donny2112 of NeoGAF.

MC 2009-04-20: Things of Note

2009-05-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Famitsu didn't update at the regular time this week, so just a Media Create update this time.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 51.6 / 48.4 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 343.8 weeks (November 28, 2015).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 23.1 / 76.9 bring total shares to 24.6 / 75.4. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 297.3 weeks (January 7, 2015).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 55.9 / 44.1 bring total shares to 28.1 / 71.9. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii nine weeks in a row. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 984.5 weeks (March 9, 2028). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 207.1 weeks (April 15, 2013).

Week over week, PS3 comes back down to Earth, Wii has a mini monster bump, and everything else stays pretty flat.

Through the first seventeen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.7%
DSL+DSi: -2.7%
PS2: -52.2%
PS3: +23.1%
PSP: -41.7%
X360: +242.6%

Home hardware: -36.2%
Portable hardware: -24.0%
Sum of all hardware: -29.0%

Media Create Sales: 04/20 - 04/26

2009-04-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

01./00. [WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom) - 131,647 / NEW
02./01. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Pokemon Co.) - 54,413 / 196,000 (-62%)
03./00. [PS3] Killzone 2 (SCEI) - 41,245 / NEW
04./00. [PSP] Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3: The Collapsing City and the Girl's Song (Disaster Report 3) (Irem) - 31,434 / NEW
05./04. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST) (Capcom) - 22,688 / 613,000 (+26%)
06./00. [360] Death Smiles (Cave) - 19,635 / NEW
07./02. [PSP] Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom) - 16,692 / 130,000 (-40%)
08./03. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (Nintendo) - 16,595 / 558,000 (-12%)
09./11. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 10,587 / 3,369,000
10./00. [360] H.A.W.X. (Ubisoft) - 9,705 / NEW

11./00. [NDS] A Ressha de Gyoukou DS (Take the A-Train DS) (Artdink)
12./07. [NDS] Pro Baseball Famista DS 2009 (Namco Bandai)
13./10. [WII] Deca Sporta 2: Wii de Sports 10 Shumoku! (Hudson)
14./13. [WII] Taiko Drum Master Wii (Namco Bandai)
15./09. [PSP] Kidou Senshi Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Namco Bandai)
16./08. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (Koei)
17./12. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2009 (#15) (Konami)
18./14. [NDS] Rittai Picross (3D) (Nintendo)
19./20. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
20./18. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (SEGA)
21./21. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
22./05. [NDS] Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! Fate of Heat II (Takara Tomy)
23./24. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon Co.)
24./19. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)
25./22. [NDS] Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator World Championship 2009 (Konami)
26./06. [PSP] Fantasy Golf Pangya Portable (Takara Tomy)
27./15. [PSP] Disgaea 2 Portable (Nippon Ichi Software)
28./23. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo)
29./00. [PS2] Little Anchor (D3 Publisher)
30./42. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo)
31./30. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)
32./16. [NDS] Kanji Quiz DS 3 Deluxe (Rocket Company)
33./37. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
34./26. [NDS] Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi (Little Magician's Magic Adventure) (Konami)
35./00. [NDS] Kanji Brain 2 Premium (IE Institute)
36./00. [NDS] Aim!! Fishing Master DS (Hudson)
37./41. [PS3] Demon's Souls (SCEI)
38./00. [PSP] Nanatama: Chronicle of Dungeon Maker (Global A)
39./29. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
40./36. [NDS] Metal Fight Beyblade (Hudson)
41./35. [NDS] Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Nendororon Daihenshin! (Namco Bandai)
42./00. [PS2] Kanuchi: Kuroki Tsubasa no Shou (Black-winged Chapter) (Idea Factory)
43./32. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master 2: The Seven Island Adventure (Namco Bandai)
44./34. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Next (Konami)
45./39. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
46./33. [NDS] 7th Dragon (SEGA)
47./31. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (Koei)
48./46. [NDS] Power Pro Kun Pocket 11 (Konami)
49./27. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai)
50./48. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)

Thanks to donny2112 of NeoGAF.

UK - Wii Fit Maintains Momentum, Continues Record Run

2009-04-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

Wii Fit has spent the last month at number 1 in the UK, with 9 weeks in 2009 alone, and it shows no signs of stopping.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena debuted in the number 2 slot, pushing recent arrival The Godfather II down to number 3.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, a long-time top 10 title, has dropped to number 11.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Fit – Nintendo
2. The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena – Atari
3. The Godfather II – EA
4. FIFA 09 – EA
5. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
6. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
7. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
8. Wii Play – Nintendo
9. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
10. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2

11. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
12. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
13. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
14. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
15. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate collection – Sega
16. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
17. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party – Ubisoft
18. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
19. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
20. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts

21. Killzone 2 – Sony
22. Wheelman – Ubisoft
23. Monsters vs. Aliens – Activision Blizzard
24. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
25. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
26. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
27. Puzzler Collection – Ubisoft
28. WSC Real 09: World Snooker Championship – Blade Interactive
29. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Take 2
30. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 – THQ

31. Gears of War 2 – Microsoft
32. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Activision Blizzard
33. Kung Fu Panda – Activision Blizzard
34. New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo
35. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – Ubisoft
36. Left 4 Dead – EA
37. Mystery Case Files: Millionheir – Nintendo
38. Need for Speed: Undercover – EA
39. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
40. Sonic Unleashed - Sega

MC 2009-04-13 and Famitsu 2009-04-06: Things of Note

2009-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 227 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 180.1 weeks (Augut 11, 2003), where DS was at 99.7 weeks (October 27, 2006), and where GBA was at 153.4 weeks (February 25, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 175 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.6 weeks (January 3, 2002), where PS3 was at 36.4 weeks (July 18, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.2 weeks (January 1, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 127 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 42.7 weeks (December 22, 2000), where PSP was at 64.4 weeks (March 1, 2006), where GCN was at 120.5 weeks (December 31, 2003), and where Wii was at 33.3 weeks (July 17, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 124 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 95.1 weeks (January 11, 2003), where DS was at 76.4 weeks (May 17, 2006), where PS2 was at 114.1 weeks (May 6, 2002), and where PSP was at 165.0 weeks (February 3, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 24 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 44.5 weeks (December 18, 2003) and where DSL was at 14.2 weeks (June 5, 2006).

It's worth noting that unlike last week's Media Create numbers, Famitsu has Wii beating PS3: 15,540 to 13,509.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 52.7 / 47.3 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 353.4 weeks (January 27, 2016).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 12.2 / 87.8 bring total shares to 24.6 / 75.4. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 239.2 weeks (November 19, 2013).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 82.5 / 17.5 bring total shares to 28.0 / 72.0. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii eight weeks in a row, andthe first time it more than quadrupled Wii. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 98.2 weeks (March 8, 2011). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 77.4 weeks (October 13, 2010).

Week over week, PS3 explodes thanks to the FF VII / XIII stuff, but everything else is pretty flat.

By Media Create's reckoning, Xbox 360 hits 1 million units sold in its 176th week.

Through the first fifteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.7%
DSL+DSi: -2.9%
PS2: -52.8%
PS3: +19.9%
PSP: -40.1%
X360: +237.5%

Home hardware: -36.8%
Portable hardware: -23.3%
Sum of all hardware: -28.9%

Famitsu Software Stuff

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) remains high. For the second week in a row its sales have gone down while its rank has gone up, thanks to lackluster sales of everything else.

Chart perennials Wii Fit and Monster Hunter Portable 2 G both continue to do well, but lately MHP2G has been doing a bit better. It's become a bit of a question as to whether it will eventually pass it up (again) before further games in either series steal attention away. Thanks to my new ability to show lines of not only individual games but also groups now, we can set up an image that shows how MHP2G and its Best rerelease are closing in on Wii Fit.

Looking at this image now, it's apparent that the currently weekly sales of MHP2G are better than what it was doing just a few months after launch--I guess the lower price is doing good things for it.

Our latest Famitsu number for Dragon Quest Swords (486,222) comes from the end of 2007, so in reality it should be a bit ahead when we get the 2008 Top 500. However, Taiko no Tatsujin Wii has apparently passed it (at 492,585) to become the top third party game on the Wii. Since it continues selling thousands of copies each week, it will legitimately be ahead any time now.

This also makes it the #2 console third party game of this generation, behind Metal Gear Solid 4.

Apparently thanks to an anime series based on the game, the budget rerelease of Valkyria Chronicles makes its first appearance on the Top 30, a month after its release. Since Famitsu tells what the previous two ranks were for each game on the list, we know that two weeks ago it was sitting at #74.

A bunch of new software groups this week. Mostly because with the new ability to make line graphs of groups, it's desirable to have some subsets of larger groups.
Monster Hunter Console
Monster Hunter Portable
Monster Hunter G
Monster Hunter Portable 1
Monster Hunter Portable 2 G
Disaster Report
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5

Media Create Sales: 04/13 - 04/19 (Software)

2009-04-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

01. [NDS] Pokemon Fushigi no dungeon (Nintendo) 142,000 / NEW
02. [PSP] BASARA Battle Heroes (Capcom) 28,000 / 114,000
03. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 19,000 / 541,000
04. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 18,000 / 591,000
05. [NDS] Hitman Reborn (Takara Tommy) 17,000 / NEW
06. [PSP] Fantasy Golf Pangya Portable (Takara Tommy) 13,000 / NEW
07. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Konami) 11,000 / 55,000
08. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 10,000 / 205,000
09. [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Namco Bandai) 9,000 / 144,000
10. [WII] Deca Sports 2 (Hudson) 9,000 / NEW

11. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo)
12. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami)
13. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
14. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo)
15. [PSP] Disgaea 2 (Nippon Ichi)
16. [NDS] Kanji Quiz DS 3 Deluxe (Rocket)
17. [PS3] Godfather II (Electronic Arts)
18. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (SEGA)
19. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)
20. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
21. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
22. [NDS] Yugioh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator - World Championship 2009 (Konami)
23. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo)
24. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon)
25. [WII] Oboro Muramasa Youtouden (Marvelous)
26. [NDS] Tongariboushi and the 365 Days of Magic (Konami)
27. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai)
28. [360] Godfather II (Electronic Arts)
29. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
30. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)

US: Continued Wii Dominance Over HD Consoles

2009-04-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

UK - Wii Fit Remains Number 1 for 8th Week in 2009; Godfather II Held in 2nd

2009-04-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Nintendo has maintained its healthy lead on the UK Top 40 Software Chart, with Wii Fit at number 1 for the 12th week. Wii Fit has been number 1 in the UK for 8 weeks in 2009 alone.

With sales of the Godfather II down 32%, the new EA release is at number 2, and the publisher’s popular FIFA 09 moves up from number 5 to number 3.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate plummeted from number 20 to number 40 this past week. Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty 4 are still selling well in the UK, at number 9 and 13, respectively.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Fit – Nintendo
2. The Godfather II – EA
3. FIFA 09 – EA
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
5. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
6. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
7. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
8. Wii Play – Nintendo
9. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
10. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2

11. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
12. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
13. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
14. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
15. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party – Ubisoft
16. Wheelman – Ubisoft
17. Ben 10: Alien Force – Take 2
18. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
19. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
20. Monsters vs. Aliens – Activision Blizzard

21. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Take 2
22. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
23. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
24. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – Ubisoft
25. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection – Sega
26. Kung Fu Panda – Activision Blizzard
27. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
28. Killzone 2 – Sony
29. Need for Speed: Undercover – Ubisoft
30. Puzzler collection – Ubisoft

31. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 – THQ
32. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania – THQ
33. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
34. Mystery Case Files: Millionheir
35. New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo
36. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
37. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros.
38. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
39. Imagine: Doctor – Ubisoft
40. Wanted: Weapons of Fate – Warner Bros.

MC 2009-04-06 and Famitsu 2009-03-30: Things of Note

2009-04-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 226 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 179.3 weeks (Augut 5, 2003), where DS was at 99.5 weeks (October 25, 2006), and where GBA was at 152.8 weeks (February 21, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 174 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.6 weeks (January 3, 2002), where PS3 was at 35.7 weeks (July 13, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.1 weeks (January 1, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 126 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 42.4 weeks (December 20, 2000), where PSP was at 64.1 weeks (February 27, 2006), where GCN was at 120.4 weeks (December 30, 2003), and where Wii was at 33.2 weeks (July 16, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 123 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 94.9 weeks (January 11, 2003), where DS was at 76.3 weeks (May 16, 2006), where PS2 was at 113.9 weeks (May 4, 2002), and where PSP was at 164.7 weeks (February 1, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 23 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 44.2 weeks (December 16, 2003) and where DSL was at 13.8 weeks (June 3, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 53.8 / 46.2 bring total shares to 68.5 / 31.5. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 346.2 weeks (December 1, 2015).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 37.8 / 62.2 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 198.9 weeks (February 3, 2013).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 55.6 / 44.4 bring total shares to 27.6 / 72.4. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii seven weeks in a row. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 1,458.8 weeks (March 28, 2037). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 292.8 weeks (November 22, 2014).

Week over week, everything is down... except X360.

Through the first fifteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.5%
DSL+DSi: -3.0%
PS2: -53.4%
PS3: +5.2%
PSP: -40.0%
X360: +227.3%

Home hardware: -39.8%
Portable hardware: -22.7%
Sum of all hardware: -29.8%

By Media Create's reckoning, PS3 hits 3 million in its 127th week.

Famitsu Software Stuff

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) remains in the top 10, and continues increasing its lead over the previous games in the series. There's little telling where this one will end up. Since it hasn't behaved like the previous two games, using them as a model isn't appropriate. And since the last few weeks of sales are so steady (30K, 29K, 30K, 27K) it's hard to predict its eventual pattern down to negligible sales.

The numbers in this week's Top 30 are quite low, which leads to a few interesting results. For instance, when Yakuza 3 placed 30th last week, I said that would be the last we saw of it in the Top 30. However, this week it managed to both move up three places on the list and sell 1400 fewer copies than the week before.

Also burbling up on the bottom thanks to the low barrier are two old DS favorites, Animal Crossing Wild World and Taiko Drum Master 2.

Animal Crossing has continued at a pace of about 6K a week, and so should pass 5 million with about 5 more weeks of sales.

Taiko DS 2 (2860) makes its first appearance on the charts in over 2 months, and in the meantime has added over 50K to its total. This apparently has it passing up the original Taiko DS (297), but since it's had great legs too, it's probably gained a bit since we last saw an update for it at the end of 2008, too. It's a good thing Taiko DS2 had an updated sales total this week; otherwise, it's previously known total of 484,186 would've been surpassed this week by Taiko Wii at 484,657.

Another incredible effect of such a low week: my Famitsu Top 30 Software bar generator can't muster up the will to add a display number higher than 0 for the Y axis. Truly, this week's sales are better than nothing.

Media Create Sales: 04/06 - 04/12 (Hardware)

2009-04-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

PSP -- 40,886
DSi -- 40,673
PS3 -- 16,701
Wii -- 13,349
Xbox 360 -- 10,134
DS Lite -- 6,869
PS2 -- 4,531

Media Create Sales: 04/06 - 04/12

2009-04-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

01. [PSP] BASARA Battle Heroes (Capcom) 86,000 / NEW
02. [WII] Oboro Muramasa Youtouden (Marvelous) 29,000 / NEW
03. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 25,000 / 522,000
04. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 18,000 / 573,000
05. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Konami) 17,000 / 44,000
06. [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Namco Bandai) 16,000 / 135,000
07. [PS2] Arcana Heart 2 (AQ Interactive) 11,000 / NEW
08. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami) 10,000 / 104,000
09. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 10,000 / 195,000
10. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 9,000 / 3,350,000

11. [PSP] Disgaea 2 (Nippon Ichi)
12. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo)
13. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
14. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)
15. [NDS] Yugioh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator - World Championship 2009 (Konami)
16. [NDS] Zaidanhoujin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Kounin: Kanken DS3 Deluxe (Rocket)
17. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai)
18. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
19. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
20. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo)
21. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
22. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Konami)
23. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon)
24. [NDS] Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi wo Yobu - Nendororon Daihenshin! (Namco Bandai)
25. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (BEST) (SEGA)
26. [NDS] 7th Dragon (SEGA)
27. [PSP] Shinseiki Evangelion: Koutetsu no Girlfriend Tokubetsu-Hen Portable
28. [PS3] Winning Post World (KOEI)
29. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (KOEI)
30. [NDS] Tongariboushi and the 365 Days of Magic (Konami)

MC 2009-03-30 and Famitsu 2009-03-23: Things of Note

2009-04-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 225 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 178.2 weeks (July 28, 2003), where DS was at 99.2 weeks (October 24, 2006), and where GBA was at 152.0 weeks (February 15, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 173 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.5 weeks (January 3, 2002), where PS3 was at 35.3 weeks (July 10, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.1 weeks (January 1, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 125 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 42.1 weeks (December 18, 2000), where PSP was at 63.7 weeks (February 24, 2006), where GCN was at 120.2 weeks (December 30, 2003), and where Wii was at 32.9 weeks (July 15, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 122 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 94.7 weeks (January 10, 2003), where DS was at 76.2 weeks (May 15, 2006), where PS2 was at 113.6 weeks (May 2, 2002), and where PSP was at 164.4 weeks (January 30, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 22 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 43.7 weeks (December 12, 2003) and where DSL was at 13.4 weeks (May 31, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 56.5 / 43.5 bring total shares to 68.5 / 31.5. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 294.0 weeks (November 24, 2014).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 27.7 / 72.3 bring total shares to 24.7 / 75.3. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 257.2 weeks (March 11, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 56.7 / 43.3 bring total shares to 27.5 / 72.5. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii six weeks in a row. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 1011.6 weeks (August 25, 2028). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 240.3 weeks (November 13, 2013).

Week over week, there's not much consistency in direction of change, but it's usually pretty slight. Other than X360, everything is within about 10% of its previous number.

Through the first fourteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.2%
DSL+DSi: -3.2%
PS2: -54.2%
PS3: +3.0%
PSP: -39.2%
X360: +214.1%

Home hardware: -40.2%
Portable hardware: -22.1%
Sum of all hardware: -29.7%

Famitsu Software Stuff

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) is now the top Mario & Luigi game, and still has yet to drop from the top 10.

Yakuza 3 (3445) ranks 30th this week, so it's probably the last time we'll get an LTD update from the top 30. Yakuza 2's (2540) lead is growing.

This is the thirteenth week of Famitsu software sales for the year, so a full quarter. Using the combined Top 30 we can get a pretty good idea of the top games of the year so far. In fact, of the Top 10 the only one we don't have complete data for is Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, since it was last in the Top 30 a month ago. So while it sits #8 on this list, in reality it's probably #6.

 1. 467,891  DS  - Mario & Luigi RPG 3
 2. 459,876  PS3 - Yakuza 3
 3. 428,545  PS3 - Resident Evil 5
 4. 356,305  PSP - Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST)
 5. 355,784  PSP - Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid
 6. 301,609  Wii - Wii Fit
 7. 300,753  DS  - Rhythm Heaven
 8. 296,037  PSP - Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
 9. 243,240  DS  - Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode
10. 220,550  Wii - Taiko no Tatsujin Wii

UK - Wii Fit Remains Dominant, New Record

2009-04-13T08:50:00.001-07:00

Wii Fit is now the longest-running number one title for Nintendo, with 11 weeks in the top spot.

The Godfather II debuted at number 2, the latest in the franchise from EA. Vin Diesel’s Wheelman dropped out of the top ten to number 12.

Wii Play also jumped back into the top 10 at number 8, and Monsters vs. Aliens debuted at number 23.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Fit – Nintendo
2. The Godfather II – EA
3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
4. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
5. FIFA 09 – EA
6. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
7. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
8. Wii Play – Nintendo
9. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
10. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
11. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
12. Wheelman – Ubisoft
13. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
14. Guitar Hero: World Tour
15. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
16. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
17. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – Ubisoft
18. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force- Disney
19. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Take 2
20. Wanted: Weapons of Fate – Warner Bros.
21. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party – Ubisoft
22. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
23. Monsters Vs. Aliens – Activision Blizzard
24. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania – THQ
25. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures – LucasArts
26. Disney’s Bolt – Disney
27. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
28. Killzone 2 – Sony
29. New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo
30. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
31. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
32. Sonic Unleashed – Sega
33. Puzzler collection – Ubisoft
34. Lego Batman: The Videogame – Warner Bros.
35. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 – THQ
36. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate collection – Sega
37. Kung Fu Panda – Activision Blizzard
38. Need for Speed: Undercover – EA
39. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
40. Sonic and the Black Knight - Sega

Media Create Sales: 03/30 - 04/05 (Hardware)

2009-04-12T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hardware | This Week | Last Week |    YTD    |    LTD    
NDS      |    62,409 |    65,809 | 1,070,293 | 26,189,936
PSP      |    48,118 |    54,148 |   747,984 | 12,112,003
PS3      |    20,362 |    22,825 |   368,472 |  2,990,900
WII      |    15,525 |    17,276 |   405,263 |  7,884,164
360      |     7,812 |     4,849 |   152,341 |    982,881
PS2      |     5,394 |     5,246 |    81,253 | 21,480,777
--------------------------------------------------------
DSi      |    53,680 |    57,401 |   853,133 |  2,082,492
DSL      |     8,729 |     8,408 |   217,170 | 17,519,975

Media Create Sales: 03/30 - 04/05

2009-04-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

01. [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Namco Bandai) 34,000 / 119,000
02. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 33,000 / 497,000
03. [NDS] Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (Konami) 27,000 / NEW
04. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 24,000 / 555,000
05. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami) 16,000 / 93,000
06. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 15,000 / 185,000
07. [PSP] Disgaea 2 (Nippon Ichi) 15,000 / 54,000
08. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai) 13,000 / 162,000
09. [PS3] Winning Post World (KOEI) 13,000 / NEW
10. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 12,000 / 3,341,000

11. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo)
12. [NDS] Yugioh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator - World Championship 2009 (Konami)
13. [360] 11eyes CrossOver (5BP)
14. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
15. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)
16. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
17. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Konami)
18. [PS2] Winning Post World (KOEI)
19. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
20. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo)
21. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (KOEI)
22. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
23. [NDS] Tongariboushi and the 365 Days of Magic (Konami)
24. [PSP] Sunday VS Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen! (Konami)
25. [NDS] Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi wo Yobu - Nendororon Daihenshin! (Namco Bandai)
26. [PS3] Yakuza 3 (SEGA)
27.
28. [NDS] 7th Dragon (SEGA)
29. [PSP] Harvest Moon: Sugar Village and Everyone's Wish (Marvelous)
30. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)

MC 2009-03-23 and Famitsu 2009-03-16: Things of Note

2009-04-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 224 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 176.5 weeks (July 16, 2003), where DS was at 98.8 weeks (October 21, 2006), and where GBA was at 151.2 weeks (February 10, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 172 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.5 weeks (January 3, 2002), where PS3 was at 35.2 weeks (July 10, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.1 weeks (January 1, 2007).

Again any kind of being specific on a date is bound to be off since we only have data per week... but for our close-enough purposes, X360 has finally made it past what Wii did in its first calendar year.

PS3 comparisons: After 124 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 41.7 weeks (December 15, 2000), where PSP was at 63.2 weeks (February 21, 2006), where GCN was at 120.1 weeks (December 29, 2003), and where Wii was at 32.8 weeks (July 14, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 121 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 94.5 weeks (January 8, 2003), where DS was at 76.1 weeks (May 15, 2006), where PS2 was at 113.4 weeks (May 1, 2002), and where PSP was at 164.0 weeks (January 25, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 21 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 41.8 weeks (November 28, 2003) and where DSL was at 12.9 weeks (May 27, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 54.9 / 45.1 bring total shares to 68.5 / 31.5. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 261.0 weeks (March 30, 2014).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 17.5 / 82.5 bring total shares to 24.7 / 75.3. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 411.8 weeks (February 18, 2017).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 56.9 / 43.1 bring total shares to 27.4 / 72.6. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii five weeks in a row. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 882.7 weeks (February 27, 2026). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 214.6 weeks (May 10, 2013).

Week over week, everything is down. Most noticeable with DS and PSP, coming down from bumps.

After its 225th week, the combined DS systems have passed 26 million.

Through the first thirteen weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.1%
DSL+DSi: -4.0%
PS2: -54.5%
PS3: +0.4%
PSP: -36.9%
X360: +207.2%

Home hardware: -40.7%
Portable hardware: -20.9%
Sum of all hardware: -29.4%

Since we've got 13 weeks of MC sales now, a full quarter, it's a decent time to go back to that beginnings-of-years comparison I did a few weeks ago.

DS   2007:1,930,291
DS   2006:1,212,781
PSP  2008:1,108,816
Wii  2008:1,055,443
DS   2008:1,050,148
Wii  2007:1,042,075
DS   2009:1,007,894
PSP  2009:  699,866
PSP  2007:  684,551
PSP  2005:  657,074
PSP  2006:  552,494
DS   2005:  528,393
Wii  2009:  389,738
PS3  2007:  353,823
PS3  2009:  348,110
PS3  2008:  346,590
X360 2009:  144,529
X360 2007:   79,013
X360 2008:   47,046
X360 2006:   33,423

There's shuffling of order several places, but the biggest difference related to modern times is that PS3 is no longer having its worst beginning. It's slightly ahead of last year, but really all three of its years are close enough that it's a tie through the first quarter. Also, note that DS is the first system to reach a million this year. In 2007 and 2008 there were 2-3 that had reached a million by this time.

Famitsu Software Stuff

DS's Super Robot Taisen K is the top game this week, but it starts off lower than the other DS entry of two years ago: Super Robot Taisen W. Also much lower than last fall's Super Robot Taisen Z on PS2, which still seems to be the main Super Robot Taisen platform. Unrelatedly: this series must be running out of letters to stick at the end of titles by now?

Though the new PS2 and Wii Power Pro releases sit higher on the list, a surprise visit comes at #29 this week from the last DS Power Pro released in December. It last appeared in the Top 30 in January, but has apparently continued along pretty well out of sight.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) has now passed the last known total of Partners in Time (212) and is less than 1,000 units from passing Superstar Saga (1150). And still has yet to drop from the top 10. Actually, its lowest rank yet was #6 the week starting March 2.

In its fourth week, Yakuza 3 (3445) falls behind Yakuza 2 (2540), but not by much yet.

A bit of a stranger comparison, but looking at some of the top third party console games this generation... it looks like Yakuza 3 will narrowly miss catching up to Taiko no Tatsujin Wii. Their totals are closer than ever this week, but Yakuza's weekly number is less than 1000 ahead, and it seems doubtful it will stick around at this level for a long time.

Neither Animal Crossing made the Top 30 this week.

UK - Wii Fit Takes Top Spot from Resident Evil 5

2009-04-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Wii Fit reclaimed the number one spot on the UK Top 40 Software Chart, taking the place of recent Capcom hit Resident Evil 5. Wii Fit has now been number one for 10 nonconsecutive weeks, equalling the record currently held by 2000's Pokemon Yellow.

The number one spot has cycled through various titles recently, including Street Fighter IV, Killzone 2, and Empire: Total War.

FIFA 09 climbs back to number 3, and Wheelman makes a jump from number 11 to number 4.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate has debuted at number 15. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania dropped from number 5 to number 21.

Rank - Title - Publisher

1. Wii Fit - Nintendo
2. Resident Evil 5 - Capcom
3. FIFA 09 - EA
4. Wheelman - Ubisoft
5. Call of Duty: World at War - Activision Blizzard
6. Street Fighter IV - Capcom
7. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Nintendo
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision Blizzard
9. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games - Sega
10. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - Take 2

11. Carnival: Funfair Games - Take 2
12. Mario Kart Wii - Nintendo
13. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training - Nintendo
14. Wii Play - Nintendo
15. Wanted: Weapons of Fate - Warner Bros.
16. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. - Ubisoft
17. Grand Theft Auto IV - Take 2
18. Ben 10: Alien Force - D3P
19. My Fitness Coach - Ubisoft
20. Guitar Hero: World Tour - Activision Blizzard

21. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania - THQ
22. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force - Disney
23. Killzone 2 - Sony
24. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection - Sega
25. Puzzler Collection - Ubisoft
26. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 - Konami
27. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 - EA
28. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Activision Blizzard
29. Scrabble Interactive: 2009 Edition - Ubisoft
30. Mario Kart DS - Nintendo

31. Disney's Bolt - Disney
32. Lego Indiana Jones: Original Adventures - LucasArts
33. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 - THQ
34. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Ubisoft
35. New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo
36. Halo Wars - Microsoft
37. Sonic Unleashed - Sega
38. Sonic and the Black Knight - Sega
39. WSC Real 09: World Snooker Championship - Blade Interactive
40. Football Manager 2009 - Sega

Media Create Sales: 03/23 - 03/29

2009-04-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hardware | This Week | Last Week |    YTD    |    LTD    
NDS      |    65,809 |    80,181 | 1,007,884 | 26,127,527
PSP      |    54,148 |    65,765 |   699,866 | 12,063,885
WII      |    17,276 |    18,095 |   389,738 |  7,868,639
PS3      |    22,825 |    25,435 |   348,110 |  2,970,538
360      |     4,849 |     5,441 |   144,529 |    975,069
PS2      |     5,246 |     5,067 |    76,007 | 21,475,531
--------------------------------------------------------
DSi      |    57,401 |    71,233 |   799,453 |  2,030,812
DSL      |     8,408 |     8,948 |   208,441 | 17,511,246

Media Create Sales: 03/23 - 03/29

2009-04-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

01. [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (Namco Bandai) 85,000 / NEW
02. [PSP] Disgaea 2 (Nippon Ichi) 39,000 / NEW
03. [NDS] Yugioh 5D's: Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009 (Konami) 37,000 / NEW
04. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 36,000 / 464,000
05. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai) 32,000 / 149,000
06. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami) 27,000 / 77,000
07. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 24,000 / 531,000
08. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 21,000 / 169,000
09. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 17,000 / 427,000
10. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo) 16,000 / 78,000

11. [PSP] Sunday VS Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen! (Konami)
12. [PS2] Vitamin Z (D3 Publisher)
13. [PSP] Hayate no Gotoku Nightmare Paradise (Konami)
14. [NDS] Metal Fight Beyblade DS (Hudson)
15. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo)
16. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (KOEI)
17. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Konami)
18. [WII] Play on Wii: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
19. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai)
20. [WII] Yugioh 5D's: Wheelie Breakers (Konami)
21. [WII] The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya (SEGA)
22. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo)
23. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
24. [PSP] Harvest Moon: Sugar Village and Everyone's Wish (Marvelous)
25. [PS2] Trigger Heart Exelica Enhanced (Alchemist)
26. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo)
27. [NDS] 7th Dragon (SEGA)
28. [PS2] Amagami (Enterbrain)
29. [PS3] Yakuza 3 (SEGA)
30. [NDS] Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi wo Yobu - Nendororon Daihenshin! (Namco Bandai)

MC 2009-03-16 and Famitsu 2009-03-09: Things of Note

2009-03-31T03:18:00.000-07:00

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 223 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 175.2 weeks (July 8, 2003), where DS was at 98.5 weeks (October 19, 2006), and where GBA was at 150.6 weeks (February 5, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 171 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 16.5 weeks (January 2, 2002), where PS3 was at 34.7 weeks (July 6, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.0 weeks (December 31, 2006).

PS3 comparisons: After 123 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 41.1 weeks (December 10, 2000), where PSP was at 62.3 weeks (February 14, 2006), where GCN was at 119.9 weeks (December 27, 2003), and where Wii was at 32.5 weeks (July 12, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 120 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 94.2 weeks (January 7, 2003), where DS was at 76.0 weeks (May 14, 2006), where PS2 was at 113.1 weeks (April 29, 2002), and where PSP was at 163.7 weeks (January 25, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 20 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 41.0 weeks (November 23, 2003) and where DSL was at 12.8 weeks (May 26, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 54.9 / 45.1 bring total shares to 68.6 / 31.4. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 214.7 weeks (May 4, 2013).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 17.6 / 82.4 bring total shares to 24.7 / 75.3. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 363.7 weeks (March 11, 2016).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 58.4 / 41.6 bring total shares to 27.3 / 72.7. This is the first time PS3 has outsold Wii four weeks in a row. At this week's rates PS3 catches up to Wii in 668.1 weeks (January 10, 2022). If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 192.8 weeks (December 1, 2012).

Week over week, PS3 and X360 come down from RE5 bumps, DS and PSP bump up from new colors, and PS2 and Wii stay pretty flat.

After its 225th week, the combined DS systems have passed 26 million.

Through the first twelve weeks of the year, almost everything is down by some degree. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.0%
DSL+DSi: -5.0%
PS2: -54.9%
PS3: -3.0%
PSP: -34.0%
X360: +207.0%

Home hardware: -41.2%
Portable hardware: -19.4%
Sum of all hardware: -29.0%

Famitsu Software Stuff

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (3432) has now sold more than either previous game sold while in the Top 30, and has yet to drop from the Top 10.

One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 2 is performing similarly to the original. Its first week was lower, but its second and third weeks have been better.

Animal Crossing City Folk has finally fallen out of the Top 30 (for this week, at least), but Wild World at #25 maintains an Animal Crossing presence in the list. At the rate it's been selling recently, Wild World is probably 8 or 9 weeks from hitting 5 million.

UK - Resident Evil 5 Still Number One; Wheelman Debuts in 11th

2009-03-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

Resident Evil 5 remained number 1 on the UK Top 40 Software Chart for the third straight week, despite a 51% drop in sales.

Wii Fit remained at number 2, while Street Fighter IV jumped from 7th to 3rd place. Wheelman debuted at number 11.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 appears at number 25.
Mario Kart Wii made a leap from number 25 to number 13, and Guitar Hero: World Tour rose 10 spots from 31 to 21.

Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 reappeared at number 22 in the charts, as did LittleBigPlanet at number 35.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Resident Evil 5 – Capcom
2. Wii Fit – Nintendo
3. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
4. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
5. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania – THQ
6. FIFA 09 – EA
7. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
8. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Take 2
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – Ubisoft

11. Wheelman – Ubisoft
12. Wii Play – Nintendo
13. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
14. Killzone 2 – Sony
15. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
16. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
17. Ben 10: Alien Force – D3P
18. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
19. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
20. Sega Mega-Drive Ultimate Collection – Sega

21. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
22. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Konami
23. Halo Wars – Microsoft
24. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
25. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 – EA
26. Singstar Queen – Sony
27. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
28. Empire: Total War – Sega
29. Sonic and the Black Knight – Sega
30. Puzzler Collection – Ubisoft

31. Mario Power Tennis – Nintendo
32. Need for Speed: Prostreet – EA
33. Afro Samurai – Atari
34. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 – THQ
35. LittleBigPlanet – Sony
36. Scrabble Interactive: 2009 Edition – Ubisoft
37. Mystery Case Files: Millionheir – Nintendo
38. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
39. Disney’s Bolt – Disney
40. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - LucasArts

Media Create Sales: 03/16 - 03/22 (Hardware)

2009-03-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

System |  This Week  |  Last Week  |      YTD    |     LTD    
NDS    |     80,181  |     39,135  |    942,085  |  26,061,720 
PSP    |     65,765  |     43,463  |    645,718  |  12,003,821 
PS3    |     25,435  |     28,014  |    325,285  |   2,947,753 
WII    |     18,095  |     17,941  |    372,462  |   7,851,439 
360    |      5,441  |      8,378  |    139,680  |     969,117 
PS2    |      5,067  |      4,844  |     70,761  |  21,470,290
---------------------------------------------------------------
DSi    |     71,233  |     27,564  |    742,052  |   1,973,411
DSL    |      8,948  |     11,571  |    200,033  |  17,502,838