NFS puts in a chart-topping Shift

By Robert Purchese Published 21 September, 2009

Full UK Top 40 now inside.

EA has shown that Need for Speed still has pulling power as new game Shift debuts at the top of the UK All-Formats Chart.

Of the platforms the game is available on, PS3 takes the biggest bite of the sales pie with 52 per cent. That leaves 44 per cent for Xbox 360 and five per cent for PC and PSP.

As a result, last week's top finishers are nudged down a spot: Guitar Hero 5 moves to two, Colin McRae: DiRT 2 slides to three, Batman: Arkham Asylum rolls to four and Wii Sports Resort bounces to five.

Bethesda's WET joins the fray at six, which means The Beatles: Rock Band falls three spots to seven. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Wii Fit and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 round out the top 10.

There are two other new entries in the top 40: SingStar Mototown at 36 and NHL 10 at 37. Katmari Forever only manages 28 in the PS3-specific chart, and MotorStorm: Arcitic Edge debuts at three on the PSP list. Heroes Over Europe is another that misses the top 40 entirely.

Oldies Quantum of Solace and Far Cry 2 spring back to life, however - re-appearing at 16 and 19 respectively. They must be part of a very enticing deal.

This Week Last Week Title Platform(s)
1 New entry Need for Speed: Shift PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360
2 1 Guitar Hero 5 PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
3 2 Colin McRae: DiRT 2 DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
4 3 Batman: Arkham Asylum PS3, Xbox 360
5 6 Wii Sports Resort Wii
6 New entry WET PS3, Xbox 360
7 4 The Beatles: Rock Band PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
8 8 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS
9 5 Wii Fit Wii
10 11 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
11 7 IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey DS, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360
12 12 Fight Night Round 4 PS3, Xbox 360
13 9 Mario Kart Wii Wii
14 13 Championship Manager 2010 PC
15 15 Mini Ninjas DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
16 Re-entry Quantum of Solace DS, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
17 10 Ashes Cricket 2009 PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
18 14 Call of Duty: World at War PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
19 Re-entry Far Cry 2 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
20 19 LEGO Batman DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
21 20 Brain Training DS
22 18 Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360, PS3, PC
23 24 Professor Layton and the Curious Village DS
24 31 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
25 26 Guitar Hero: World Tour Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
26 33 SEGA Superstars Tennis DS, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
27 21 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood PC, PS3, Xbox 360
28 28 Killzone 2 PS3
29 25 FIFA 09 PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
30 29 Mario Kart DS DS
31 27 The Sims 3 PC
32 23 G-Force DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
33 36 Sonic Unleashed PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
34 17 Wolfenstein PC, PS3, Xbox 360
35 16 Dissidia: Final Fantasy PSP
36 New entry SingStar: Motown PS2, PS3
37 New entry NHL 10 PS3, Xbox 360
38 30 Wii Play Wii
39 40 Halo 3 Xbox 360
40 32 Mystery Stories DS, PC
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 (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • jonsaan #1 2 years ago

    There's one born every minute eh? It does look good in the advert on tv mind..

  • Dizzy #2 2 years ago

    Chav power?

  • LOLLERS #3 2 years ago

    Is there any way of tracking how many of those copies get traded in next week?

  • Kill_Crazy #4 2 years ago

    The missus wants this but unless she's willing to pay then i want a demo first ;) Supercar is more my style.

  • DrDamn #5 2 years ago

    It's a great little title, the EG review missed the point and was flawed in a number of areas in my opinion. It deserves the sales on merit.

  • rotmm #6 2 years ago

    I struggle to see how Modern Warfare is still in the top 10. Good game and all that, but still......

  • b00n #7 2 years ago

    Isn't a bad game at all actually, so not that surprised. In a crowed market, true, and not for the sim fans, but definitely worth a look, if not only for the spectacle of the cockpit view. Now just transfer this adrenaline pumping to the setting of Most Wanted, EA :)

  • menage #8 2 years ago

    I bought MW for 20 euro's this weekend. Price seemed about right for someone who just wants to plough through the SP. And maybe get some multi in at some point.

    Shift doesn't look to be bad at all.

  • tachometer #9 2 years ago

    A year from now MW will be outselling MW2, just you wait....

  • PlugMonkey #10 2 years ago

    I struggle to see how Modern Warfare is still in the top 10. Good game and all that, but still......

    It's mind boggling. Looking on play.com and the like, it doesn't even look to have been reduced in price!

  • TeRm0z #11 2 years ago

    Also the fact that PS3 has better steering wheel support may have contributed to better SHIFT sales on Sony's console. At least that made the difference in this household.
    Edited by 1 at 21/09/09 @ 11:16

  • DrRobotnik #12 2 years ago

    "NFS shift has surprisingly sold more on ps3"

    You're surprised? NFS has traditionally been a very 'PlayStation' focussed title. I think that without the die-hard NFS fans this game would have performed very averagely.

    That's not to say it's a bad game, just that recent iterations have put a lot of gamers off the franchise.

  • rotmm #13 2 years ago

    @DrRobotNik,

    Also, I've seen NFS bundled with the new Slim in a few places, and I'd guess the Slim is still selling like hotcakes.

  • shotgun44 #14 2 years ago

    The 'popular = chav' stance bores me to fucking tears. Give it a rest.

  • des #15 2 years ago

    Its not much of achievement to top Beatles second week sales...but i am not surprised, NFS games have always attracted lots of attention among racing fanatics.

    "Is there any way of tracking how many of those copies get traded in next week? "

    Watch second week sales,massive drop in sales will indicate lots of used copies on the market.
    Chart Track tracks only "new" games.

  • DrRobotnik #16 2 years ago

    "The 'popular = chav' stance bores me to fucking tears. Give it a rest."

    Sayings all come from somewhere. And I find it fitting that NFS shift was advertised all over lads-mags etc.

    What demographic do you think EA were aiming at?

  • CableNut #17 2 years ago

    I have seen shift advertised for both the ps3 and the 360 on TV ;)
    Also might be down to pirates downloading the game for the 360, and ps3 owners having to buy the original = Why more have been sold on the ps3 ;)
    Edited by 3 at 21/09/09 @ 13:18

  • PlugMonkey #18 2 years ago

    What demographic do you think EA were aiming at?

    Young men. It's a game about cars. Who do you think they would aim it at? 40-50 year old female divorcees?

    Not every male between the age of 15 and 30 is a chav, I think was the point.

  • Darren #19 2 years ago

    Need for Speed SHIFT is good so it's a shame people are dissing it on the basis of the last few much poorer games. It'd be very good on my PC if it actually worked in Vista 64-bit without crashing but it doesn't so I have to boot up Windows 7 just to play it!

    In 7 though it's fun, fast, thrilling and rewarding so I've no real complaints about it except for the twitchy handling on corners. Soon got used to that though. Compared with the woeful ProStreet and Undercover, SHIFT is a classic! :)

  • Zomoniac #20 2 years ago

    The 'popular = chav' stance bores me to fucking tears. Give it a rest.

    Given that for many years the NFS series had nothing to do with decent driving and everything to do with trying to impress sluts in hotpants by putting a mile-high spoiler and 12" wide exhaust on your car it's understandable that people still make that assumption. They've probably put enough people off the series with that self-inflicted stereotype that it will always have that image to some people. It's in much the same way that there are people in the PES threads saying FIFA 10 is unresponsive licensed shite. It will take the new EA time to fully undo the damage they did to their reputation in the bad days. Whilst I'm EA's biggest fan in recent years and can't give them enough praise for the speed and quality of their transition from evil to brilliant, I can sympathise with those who are still a little weary.

    So it's not "popular = chav", it's "used to be really chav = presumed to still be chav"

  • DrRobotnik #21 2 years ago

    "Not every male between the age of 15 and 30 is a chav, I think was the point."

    No, but then who said that everyone who bought the game was a chav?

    The fact is, Chavs buy games, right? And as racing games go they don't get much more 'chavvy' than the old NFS series.

    The new one is likely riding on the success of the brand name (and, by extention, its followers) because it's sure not riding on the success of the piss-poor recent iterations.

  • triple_a #22 2 years ago

    If I had to choose between console versions, I'd totally go for the PS3 as it supports Logitech wheels. That could explain why the numbers are bigger for PS3.

  • Slo_Mo #23 2 years ago

    A nearly blad grey haired 40+ man bought NFS rubber case edition edition in my local Gamestation last weekend, he was charming the female shop worker, with his list of achievements LOL

  • Numbat #24 2 years ago

    I agree with donnie080208 that I think Forza's release next month, with Demo this week, means 360 owners are more likely to wait - certainly for me it was between this, Forza 3 & Dirt 2 on 360, so I pre-ordered Dirt (which I really like) and will probably get Forza 3. NFS I think looks good - and I'm sure I don't fit in the 'Chav' category, but I'm afraid it will have to wait. Maybe a Christmas present if the demo (assuming there will be one) is any good! Otherwise it will be when it's cheap. I think not releasing a demo may have been a real mistake as this would have been the one way to prove the game really is better.

  • Caimbeul #25 2 years ago

    Shame NFS doesnt run on ATI Cards....

    >:-/

  • Nephirion #26 2 years ago

    I am waiting for NFS: Joyrider

  • Vroom #27 2 years ago

    Nfs does well again then. No surprise there.