FIFA 09 is first UK No.1 of 2009

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 January, 2009

Although Wii sales are predictably stellar.

EA and Activision continue to trade places at the peak of the UK All-Formats Top 40, with FIFA 09 ahead of Call of Duty: World at War for the first recorded week of 2009, which ended on 3rd January.

Interestingly (or not), Call of Duty topped both of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 charts, but FIFA held it off anyway thanks presumably to extra sales on Wii, DS, PS2 and PSP.

Both games nonetheless dropped off over the New Year, with FIFA experiencing a 41 per cent weekly decline in sales and Call of Duty a drop of 50 per cent - still 5,000 more units than Need For Speed: Undercover, which remains third.

Otherwise the Top 40 is the usual reshuffle, with Guitar Hero: World Tour up to fourth (its highest-ever position according to compiler Chart-Track), and various Wii games scattered about including Mario & Sonic, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii in the top ten.

Mario Kart Wii sales were down 60 per cent, apparently, but that was still enough to give it 8th spot, and the units-sold chart says the Wii exclusive was the second best-selling single unit of software, behind the evergreen Wii Play and ahead of Call of Duty: World at War on 360.

Returning to the All-Formats list, there are a few re-entries lower down, but the only new entry is Nintendo's 100 Classic Book Collection, which arrives at 27 following its Boxing Day launch.

Here's the full UK All-Formats Top 40 for the week ended 3rd January 2009:

This Week Last Week Title Platform(s)
1 2 FIFA 09 PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
2 1 Call of Duty: World at War PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
3 3 Need for Speed Undercover PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
4 7 Guitar Hero: World Tour Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
5 9 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Wii, DS
6 5 Wii Play Wii
7 11 Far Cry 2 PC, Xbox 360, PS3
8 4 Mario Kart Wii Wii
9 8 Quantum of Solace PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
10 10 Sonic Unleashed Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
11 17 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC
12 19 Carnival: Funfair Games Wii
13 12 Gears of War 2 Xbox 360
14 6 Tomb Raider: Underworld PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
15 16 Prince of Persia Xbox 360, PS3
16 21 Mirror's Edge PC, Xbox 360, PS3
17 14 LEGO Indiana Jones PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
18 13 Dr Kawashima's Brain Training DS
19 33 Wii Fit Wii
20 15 Fallout 3 PC, Xbox 360, PS3
21 20 LEGO Batman: The Videogame PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
22 30 WALL-E PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
23 18 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 PC, Xbox 360, PS3
24 27 Shaun White Snowboarding Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS
25 31 Football Manager 2009 PC, PSP
26 25 WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2
27 New! 100 Classic Book Collection DS
28 26 Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360, PS3, PC
29 32 Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party DS, Wii
30 22 LittleBigPlanet PS3
31 23 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2
32 Re-entry Big Beach Sports Wii
33 36 NEW Super Mario Bros. DS
34 Re-entry Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP
35 24 Kung Fu Panda PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
36 28 More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima DS
37 Re-entry Midnight Club: Los Angeles Xbox 360, PS3
38 Re-entry Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS
39 Re-entry Mario Kart DS DS
40 34 Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City Wii
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (8) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Farzlepot #1 3 years ago

    First? Wow!

    Erm, OK. I'm having difficulty believing that "100 Classic Book Collection" is being considered a 'game' by anybody. It's precisely because of large quantities of shovelware like this that I'm not sure why anybody thinks that Nintendo has any intention of being in competition with Sony or Microsoft.

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    I wouldn't count the book thing as shovelware. Certainly isn't a game either though.

  • CapnCloudchaser #3 3 years ago

    The book 'thing' looks rather hard to read on the small DS screens. Clearly all the older people it's being aimed at will get eye strain, or else, it will take them a day to read a single page?

  • Farzlepot #4 3 years ago

    I don't know, it seems to be a fitting term. The actual software itself can't have taken an inordinate amount of time to program, and once that was finished they just crammed in as many old (generally copyright-free) books as they could fit onto the cartridge and then dumped it on the market in the hopes that the casual crowd would lap it up. I assume it's being aimed at commuters and the like, but I think I'd rather take an actual book on the train, as at least a book can play host to more than four legible words per page. I've seen a program on the iPhone that does the same thing, has more flexibility, and looks a lot better than this.

    Not that I'm really questioning its quality, as there's very little one can do with a book reading program once the basics are in place. I'm just wondering whether its time for the charts to be a little less indiscriminate in what gets included where.
    Edited by 1 at 06/01/09 @ 10:53

  • Brogan #5 3 years ago

    the selling power of EG's top 50 confirmed. LBP drops 8 places

  • youhavenomail #6 3 years ago

    Sonic is at it again. Return to form delayed another generation.

  • secombe #7 3 years ago

    I'm just wondering whether its time for the charts to be a little less indiscriminate in what gets included where.

    A quick look at the Chart Track website would tell you that these charts are for "ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE", and I think it would be hard to justify not having the book thing under that banner.

  • Farzlepot #8 3 years ago

    "A quick look at the Chart Track website would tell you that these charts are for "ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE", and I think it would be hard to justify not having the book thing under that banner."

    That's what I mean by 'what gets included where' though. In the brave new world Nintendo has opened up, is it really fair for electronic books, electronic cooking books, fitness programs and the like to be counted along with of LittleBigPlanet and Gears of War? With software like that rapidly filling up Nintendo's huge hardware base, regular games are competing for chart positions alongside things which they really can't and shouldn't compete with.