MGS4 debuts at top of UK charts

By Robert Purchese Published 17 June, 2008

Not a record breaker. Full top 40 inside.

Metal Gear Solid 4 has shot to the top of the UK all formats chart, becoming the fastest-selling PS3-exclusive ever; second only to Grand Theft Auto IV.

The Konami blockbuster crept onto shop shelves last Thursday. MGS4 has beaten MGS3's first-week sales by 24,000 units, but MGS2 is still the fastest-selling title in the series by a lead of 14,000 units.

LEGO Indiana Jones proved popular again this week to take two, ahead of genre boss Grand Theft Auto IV at three.

Mario & Sonic are dreaming of Olympic glory at four, followed by a Father's Day surge from Brain Training to jump from 12 to five. It has now occupied a top 10 spot for 74 weeks.

Excellent car outing Race Drive: GRID dropped a few positions to six, hounded by chart-lifer Wii Play at seven and Sports Island at eight.

Civilization Revolution spent its very first week on console shelves at nine, with some actual stock helping Wii Fit leap dexterously back into the chart at 10.

The other fresh entry this week was Don King Presents: Prizefighter for Xbox 360 at 25.

Both Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4 spent an unusual week outside of the top 10, at 13 and 14 respectively.

Big sliders this week were Ninja Gaiden II down from six to 15, Mario Kart Wii down from seven to 16, Haze down from 15 to 27, and Rock Band down from 20 to 35.

Those knocked off the bottom include Mass Effect and Age of Conan (at two and three in the PC chart), as well as Boom Blox and Quake Wars.

  1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
  2. LEGO Indiana Jones (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)
  3. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360)
  4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii, DS)
  5. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
  6. Race Driver: GRID (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
  7. Wii Play (Wii)
  8. Sports Island (Wii)
  9. Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360, PS3)
  10. Wii Fit (Wii Fit)
  11. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC, DS, PSP)
  12. FIFA 08 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
  13. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC, DS)
  14. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS)
  15. Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360)
  16. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
  17. Carnival: Funfair Games (Wii)
  18. UEFA Euro 2008 (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, PS2, PSP)
  19. Game Party (Wii)
  20. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Xbox 360, PS3)
  21. More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima (DS)
  22. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, PS2, DS, PSP)
  23. 42 All-Time Classics (DS)
  24. Iron Man: The Official Videogame (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)
  25. Don King Presents: Prizefighter (Xbox 360)
  26. Cooking Mama 2 (Wii, DS)
  27. Haze (PS3)
  28. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
  29. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
  30. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360, PS3)
  31. SEGA Superstars Tennis (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS)
  32. Football Manager 2008 (PC, Xbox 360)
  33. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
  34. Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii, DS)
  35. Rock Band (Xbox 360)
  36. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree Wii)
  37. Imagine: Babies (DS)
  38. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS)
  39. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (Wii, PS2, PSP, DS)
  40. Need For Speed: ProStreet (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, ©2008 ELSPA (UK) Ltd.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • alimokrane #1 4 years ago

    modest performane for Ninja Gaiden 2.

  • Zomoniac #2 4 years ago

    MGS4 beaten by a demo lol.

    /troll

  • cyacomini #3 4 years ago

    Surprised to see Civilization sitting quite so high - I thought I was the only person who bought these types of games on consoles.

  • guernican #4 4 years ago

    Why don't you provide actual numbers?

  • Gaol #5 4 years ago

    Is the reader intended to reverse engineer the MGS sales comments to arrive at the volume sold?

    Oh, and £40 > £20

  • Prodigy_BE #6 4 years ago

    The more I play, the more I have to admit that EG wasn't wrong with it's 8/10 score on MGS4.
    Graphically amazing, indeed, but gameplay-wise nothing new, with the bosses as notable step back.

    Yes, they are visually cool, but can be taken out by gunfire (you can even buy ammo during bossfights)
    I preferred the thinking man's approach, like we saw with Psycho Mantis, The End, That spider guy in MGS3...

    Once again, I look to companies like Quantic Dream for innovation, and people like Naughty Dog, who''re not afraid to bring new franshises to the market.

  • bad09 #7 4 years ago

    @ Prodigy_BE

    Couldn't agree more mate, the boss battles were obviously one of the things I was looking forward to. Last night I battled laughing octopus and was totally uninspired, I hope the boss battles improve :(

    The buying of guns and ammo is a let down for me also, totally takes away from the atmosphere.

    Still enjoying it though, and MGSO is wicked!

  • Brogan #8 4 years ago

    How would they provide actual numbers? Surely the best they could do would be to give a symbolic representation of the amount of units sold. Numbers aren’t real, they are models, therefore you can’t really have actual numbers. Plus it would be every dull and would not offer that much context.

    Oh and LOL at the MGS4 hype machine

  • Arwin #9 4 years ago

    MGS4 is lovely. Like it lots, playability is hugely improved over the previous versions. It's the first version that I've managed to get into significantly, and can keep going without getting stuck (in Act 2 so far). It's also totally stealing away my GTA IV time (I had just started on that). It's an absolutely awesome game, and big too.

  • chris_ace #10 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • CannonAnBall #11 4 years ago

    I'm currently playing through Act 4 on MGS4 and I've enjoyed every single moment and already I'm thinking about playing the game from the start once I've finished.

    Funnily enough, most of my friends bought their copy of MGS yesterday!


    @ Brogan

    ...nothing can beat the LOL at the Halo3 hype machine.

  • bad09 #12 4 years ago

    "...nothing can beat the LOL at the Halo3 hype machine."

    What about the Haze hype machine.......

  • CannonAnBall #13 4 years ago

    @ bad09

    ...I never got caught up in that one!

    Neither did most people who own a PS3.

  • Brogan #14 4 years ago

    nothing can beat the LOL at the Halo3 hype machine.

    but the halo3 hype machine worked. It sold a ton of games and consoles. i didn't like it but the people pushing it got the job done. MGS4 not so much.

  • CannonAnBall #15 4 years ago

    ...so MGS4 hasn't sold that well then?

  • Widge #16 4 years ago

    Doing MGS4 through using all the facilities available to me... but from what I've read, there are achievements for it, completing Acts/Entire Game with no alerts or kills etc. May play through the game again as the original Snake Stealth man. The game is geared so that you can play it how you want, which I quite like.

  • Prodigy_BE #17 4 years ago

    @ JSPOOLE

    Being an ex-journalist, I can only say to put that game on your radar.
    I know you Brits hate the French (not too fond myself), but innovation-wise, this has as much punch as Little Big Planet.

    Be Xbot all you want, but Quantic Dream will push boundaries. Stuff that big companies who rely on sequels for their yearly sales (Gran Turismo, GTA, MGS, Killzone, Guitar Hero...they're all too scared to innovate, because it's a bigger gamble than just doing more of the same) are just too scared to do.

  • Brogan #18 4 years ago

    AS weel as they were hoping with ads in the football? no

  • Widge #19 4 years ago

    ooh, Japan sales in:

    [link url=http://uk.ps3.ign.com/arti cles/882/882248p1.html?RSSwhen2008-06-17_000300&RSSid=882248
    ]http://uk .ps3.ign.com/articles/882/88224...[/link]

    500k for MGS4

    77k for the PS3

  • Widge #20 4 years ago

    yeah! yeah! you could port Halo and Mass Effect to the PS3 and that would be more sales for MS on software too!

  • HolyJebus #21 4 years ago

    "surge from Brain Training to jump from 12 to five. It has now occupied a top 10 spot for 74 weeks."

    I'm confused.

  • APHIZM #22 4 years ago

    MGS4 deserves that top spot. The further I get through the game, the more of a masterpiece it becomes - and I admit having my doubts during the 1st act.

    Such a shame the usual twats feel the need to knock something that will, in years to come, outshine most of the shit knocking around right now. It's a glorious swan-song to the end of an era - I just hope the casual gaming boom doesn't completely kill off such labors of love.

  • Widge #23 4 years ago

    I'm loving it, although I'm not too far through. The entire battlefield setting of the first act is something I'm totally alien to! Usually its a sneak mission in a confined space, the arenas are sizable, a good many routes for differing techniques there. Going through a bit gun happy, saving the pure stealth approach for the second play through. I can see that being quite a tense effort as well.

    Hoping some clans get on the go from my usual haunts because I just loved the Find Snake online mode!

  • DanC89 #24 4 years ago

    HolyJebus
    "surge from Brain Training to jump from 12 to five. It has now occupied a top 10 spot for 74 weeks."

    I'm confused.

    Not necessarily in a row!;)

  • HolyJebus #25 4 years ago

    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

    That's cheating

  • CitizenGeek #26 4 years ago

    I'm surprised MGS4 has sold more than MGS3 in one week.

    MGS4 is fantastic, though, so it deserves all of it's sales! :D

  • Widge #27 4 years ago

    You're dismissing other peoples viewpoints based on your own being the "correct" viewpoint.

  • CannonAnBall #28 4 years ago

    ...point out a game (story driven) that isn't 'cheesy crap'?


  • Widge #29 4 years ago

    There are few games which are involving enough so that you actually give a fig about whats happening. Combat aside, I thought Heavenly Sword had a fantastic story, also I found the Halo 1 & 2 (not done 3) saga quite entertaining... and the MGS2-alike swap of perspectives with the Arbiter was brilliant I thought. I also like the fact that MGS seems to straddle complete seriousness, and tongue in cheek tongue poking fun. If it went all out po-faced seriousness, it would have been a disaster.

    Certainly I find the game more involving than the likes of HalfLife 2 and KOTOR.

    So going onto the point of not seeing the point of Little Big Planet, for those who like the idea of getting hands on with a construction kit its going to be fantastic, for those who have seen what clever people on the PC mod scene can do when given a kit, again much potential. For those who don't care about it, will the 50 levels that the game spans as standard live up to whats needed? Who will know, certainly none of us to pass judgment at this stage.

    As a gamer, I've got loads of titles that can justify my machine. As an HDTV owner, someone who has loads of media on my HDD, more reason. As someone who is interested in the future TV offerings, even more potential satisfaction for the outlay. I wouldn't exchange machines for a second, even with the tempting SquareEnix upcoming titles for the 360, because of what I feel I would be losing out on.

    But still, this is my opinion, liking the games that I like, not that I'm going to sit here and tell you you're wrong or anything, because what are you going to do, start playing things and enjoying things because I say so?

  • Prodigy_BE #30 4 years ago

    @ JSPOOLE

    User created content can be great, if fueled by enough creative people and with a good tool in place that separates the crap from the good stuff. Look at YouTube, or the user created stuff on the Unreal Tournament games. Even Duke Nukem and Doom had a massive amount of great stuff back in the days.

    And I think very few MGS fans will say that this is the best game ever. But it is better than all that Alien come from the sky/east and west do battle/WWII/Aliens come out of the ground crap. At least it attempts at emotions, and at some points, it even succeeds.

    And yes, 360 is great. But I sold mine after getting it back from repairs a third time.
    Not that I don't want one (I play at a friends house now, he also got one on launch and it still works fine), but before the media informs me that hardware problems are 100% gone, I'm not taking any chances.


    I played about 27 games so far on my PS3. (RFOM, MotorStorm, Heavenly Sword, The Darkness, SKATE, Virtua Fighter 5, Sega Rally, Uncharted, Assasins Creed, Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2, Super Stardust HD, Riff, Super Puzzle Fighter, COD4, Burnout Paradise, DMC4, Fight Night 3, GTA4, Mortal Kombat 2, MGS4, Pixeljunk Monsters, GRID, Ratchet & Clank, Civilisation, Oblivion, Orange Box)

    That's almost a new one every two weeks, which is more than enough reason to buy a PS3.
    I know, if you have an Xbox 360 and it works fine, only 8 of those are PS3 exclusive, so I can understand people holding out on PS3 until more good stuff arrives. But if you really are a gamer, and not a fanboy of one of the big 3, you're gonna have to buy all consoles at one point, or miss out on lots of fun.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 12:51

  • Gaol #31 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    'I honestly don't think people who hail MGS as some classic are mentally right in the head.'

    Because everyone with a differing opinion to you is some kind of retard. Please take that comment and shove it...
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 12:44

  • muscleblade #32 4 years ago

    @Eurogamer

    Where is the DBZ:BL review. Im on the fence on that one.

  • HolyJebus #33 4 years ago

    I'm not looking to get into an argument with anyone but I must say I agree with JPoole. I've played games 20+ years and I have pretty much no interest in the stories they tell. I'm also a massive film fan so if I want a good story i'll watch a good movie or heaven forbid, read a book.

    In my opinion the best story for a computer game is Shadow of the Colossus. Keep the story telling to a minimum and let the player interpret the story in their own way. That was genius. Even the likes of Bioshock, which is considered to have a great story, had no lasting effect on me.

    I also currently see no attraction in the PS3. Sorry.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 12:51

  • Widge #34 4 years ago

    you forgot to bold "In my opinion"

  • Prodigy_BE #35 4 years ago

    Holyjebus, you are totally right.

    Stories in videogames s*ck bigtime. Only a few stand out from the crowd. Stuff like Fahrenheit, Uncharted, Final Fantasy VII, IX and XII, Planescape Torment, a bunch of old Lucasarts point and click adventures, Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3, Half Life, Final Fantasy Tactics (the PSP remake being the best one).

    Uncharted is the best example that you need a reflection character, a romance character, a 3 act structure with the needed milestones (the point of no return, the major setback, the final attempt...) to really make it all work.

    Stories have been common knowledge for years in Hollywood, but the majority of the gamesdevelopers keeps on pushing us down the unbeatable hero lane. That works well for a platform game, but not for adventuregames and RPG's.

  • CannonAnBall #36 4 years ago

    "but the majority of the gamesdevelopers keeps on pushing us down the unbeatable hero lane"

    Hollywood are pros at this genre. Look at Arnie, Stallone and Willis to name but a few....


    MGS4 is an outstanding game and I've been engrossed by the story. I'm nearly at the end and it has stirred memories from my past that I didn't expect to still have. The stealth approach I have taken in areas have been very stressful at times but highly entertaining.

  • CannonAnBall #37 4 years ago

    I've not played the original Halo but have since played Halo2 and Halo3. I enjoyed Halo2 more than 3 to be honest but I didn't think the stories were great in them. In fact I couldn't care what happened in 3.

  • Widge #38 4 years ago

    Halo has a good story, I wouldn't say its the best I've experienced in life though. I thought the twist in storytelling perspective in Halo 2 was good though, I liked the same when I'd gone through MGS2. Seems like some people disagreed with that from opinions I've read but hey ho.

    FFX had an alright story, I liked the role of Auron in that. Seems like that marked the end of the 'good' story side of FF for now.

  • HolyJebus #39 4 years ago

    I think with Halo they created one of the greatest gaming worlds, with an interesting mythology behind it. However I don't think the actual story throughout the game was in any way memorable. Great characters and world do not necessarily mean a great story. I think by creating an interesting world they made the actual game playing aspects of it more interesting, but the cut scenes were still 90% boring and again not a scratch on most movies out there. Saying that, I think Halo is an excellent game, but could have been more with a great story, or as I mentioned above, write it in such a way not to reveal much and let the gamer fill in the gaps, so to speak.

  • muscleblade #40 4 years ago

    I prefer games with little too no story, but fantastic gameplay. If i want a good story i read a book or watch a movie. NG2 has the best story ever imo = No story at all but very good gameplay.

    I guess thats why i love Xbla games too.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 14:43

  • CannonAnBall #41 4 years ago

    Movies can be and are generally shite you know!!

    Fuck me, I've sat through some shit films in my time.

  • HeSSeH #42 4 years ago

    I'm too tired to read through 50 comments to see if this has already been posted.

    Mario Kart Wii holds both #16 and #29.

    Gr. H

  • Gaol #43 4 years ago

    @Brainlessminimus

    "Only problem there is Halo was made for Americans, and Americans in general only know how to be told how to think, not to actually think for themselves. "

    "Halo has the best story of any game I've played through"

    Even though it was written by Americans. You should engage your brain before typing, at least some of the time. And if Halo is the best story you've played through I suggest you go and play an old LucasArts game or something.

    What a div.

  • Prodigy_BE #44 4 years ago

    @ farticusmaximus

    Dude, don't turn this into a PS3 vs 360 battle.

    Halo's story is okay, and also has lots of key characters to make a story work. But arching it over 3 games makes it lose the speed that it needs to stay in all players minds. And far to few cutscenes to really get to know the characters (and also, Master Chief being a guy without expressions and low on humanity (as a super soldier) doesn't help either.

    Read a few Michael Hauge, Sid Field or David Trottier books in scriptwriting, and you'll know what I mean.
    You may not like Uncharted, and that's fine by me. But saying that it doesn't have a good story is just wrong.

  • HolyJebus #45 4 years ago

    "I think story telling in gaming can be truly amazing, Mass Effect, KOTOR 1 and 2 , Half Life games, Portal, Darkness"

    Do you really believe these games have truly amazing stories? Honestly? I agree with you that these games have some of the best story telling in games around, but that is exactly my point. These stories don't even come close to a good story of a movie/book.

    Half Life for example, the actual story is not impressive in the slightest, the genius of that game is how they implemented the player into the story. But the story itself could be written by a 12 year old.

    Someday i'm sure there will be games with extremely well written stories but imo for now, we are still a long way off.