Paradise for EA in UK charts

By Robert Purchese Published 29 January, 2008

PS3 and 360 versions evenly split.

Burnout Paradise has smashed its way to the top of a UK all-formats chart littered with pre-Christmas releases.

Sales of the destructive racer are fairly evenly split between the two formats, with 53 per cent on Xbox 360 and 47 per cent on PS3. Which equals 100. Thank goodness.

It storms past previous best seller Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which crosses the line in second despite a slight sales boost over last week.

Call of Duty 4 also managed to bolster its sales, but kept its spot at three while probably boasting about how it had sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

Continued popularity for the Wii has seen launch title Wii Play clamber up the charts from ten to four, while familiar chart favourite Brain Training sat at five.

Further down, The Simpsons Game and Christmas performer Assassin's Creed are at six and seven, with FIFA 08 at eight.

The biggest climber this week was rodent-focused Ratatouille, scuttling from 30 to nine, while More Brain Training oh go away rounds the chart out at ten.

Scandalously Mass Effect has disappeared from the Top 40, beaten by tripe such as High School Musical: Sing It!, Cars (available on a massive 10 formats) and Scrabble Interactive: 2007. Huff.

The UK All-Formats Top 40 courtesy of Chart-Track:

  1. Burnout: Paradise (PS3, Xbox 360)
  2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii, DS)
  3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS)
  4. Wii Play (Wii)
  5. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
  6. The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
  7. Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PS3)
  8. FIFA 08 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
  9. Ratatouille (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, PS2, DS, PSP, GBA)
  10. More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima (DS)
  11. Cooking Mama (Wii, DS)
  12. WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2008 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
  13. Guitar Hero III: Legend of Rock (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC, DS)
  14. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
  15. Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)
  16. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC, DS, PSP)
  17. Ghost Squad (Wii)
  18. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
  19. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS)
  20. Need For Speed: ProStreet (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
  21. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Wii)
  22. Carnival: Funfair Games (Wii)
  23. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, PS2, DS, PSP)
  24. The Golden Compass (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS2, DS, PSP)
  25. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)
  26. Football Manager 2008 (PC, Mac)
  27. Sight Training (DS)
  28. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Xbox 360, Wii, PC, PS2, PSP)
  29. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
  30. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
  31. Cars (Xbox 360, Wii, Xbox, PSP, PS2, PC, Cube, GBA, DS)
  32. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
  33. Donkey Kong: Jet Race (Wii)
  34. The Sims 2: Castaway (PS2, Wii, DS, PSP)
  35. High School Musical: Sing It! (PS2)
  36. Scrabble Interactive: 2007 Edition (PC, DS)
  37. MySims (Wii, DS)
  38. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
  39. Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS2, PSP)
  40. My Word Coach (DS)
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 (23) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • asphaltcowboy #1 4 years ago

    Well deserved, I got it yesterday and it's brilliant!

  • BiscuitBase #2 4 years ago

    Congratulations Criterion! It's an awesome game, well deserved.

  • agparrot #3 4 years ago

    Burnout Paradise is a nice change of tone online from CoD4 - so nice to smash into people instead of trying to shoot them in the head.

  • Dizzy #4 4 years ago

    Pass

    Waiting for other games in feb.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 09:46

  • Olemak #5 4 years ago

    Sales charts are always interesting, in a "report from the trenches of the console war" sort of way; a media exaggeration of a very mundane conflict that I dont really buy into. Still, it is mildly interesting to observe the hype and the fanboisism springing up as a result of it.

    In this respect, the "even split" between Xbox 360 and PS3 for Burnout Paradise is particularily interesting - PS3 must be better than previously assumed. It would be rather interesiting to se the "splits" across formats for other games, too. Like - how many of the 7 million CoD4 copies sold were Xbox and PS3, respectably?

  • ShakaCarnage #6 4 years ago

    As of December, 360 had sold more than twice as many copies of Call of Duty 4 as the PS3 version.

  • Triggerhappytel #7 4 years ago

    Olemak & Bloodkult - I find it interesting in the Paradise TV adverts how it is only advertised as a PS3 game - much the same as Assassin's Creed was last year. Have Sony somehow managed to tie some publisher's hands on what format they display in adverts?!

  • skillian #8 4 years ago

    Olemak & Bloodkult - I find it interesting in the Paradise TV adverts how it is only advertised as a PS3 game - much the same as Assassin's Creed was last year. Have Sony somehow managed to tie some publisher's hands on what format they display in adverts?!

    It's common practice, and "tying publishers' hands" is overstating it somewhat. All the Bioshock adverts for example were selling it as an Xbox 360 game.

  • Diomedes117 #9 4 years ago

    Mass Effect out of the top 40??? I bought it in December... then again I don't live in the UK!

  • IneptPercy #10 4 years ago

    Would say its an interesting split, I did notice the advert did say PS3 with no mention of other formats, but how much difference did that make?

    As most I am still on PGR4 so waiting until burnout is cheaper really.

  • skillian #11 4 years ago

    Bioshock is a 360 game.

    Perhaps you've just illustrated the point perfectly. It was a PC game too, released the same day.

  • BiscuitBase #12 4 years ago

    But all the pc gamers had already downloaded and completed the game before it was released, so why would they need to bother advertising the PC version?
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 12:22

  • miiiguel #13 4 years ago

    "Like - how many of the 7 million CoD4 copies sold were Xbox and PS3, respectably?"
    That wouldn't be that even, because... "US of A... + FPS's = 360."

  • Darren #14 4 years ago

    I'm enjoying Burnout Paradise (on the PS3) but it's not without its share of irritating flaws, which means it's far from being the best in the series IMO.

    It's commendable that Criterion have attempted to expand on the franchise for the current gen systems but in doing so Burnout has lost a lot of its purity and pick-and-play appeal, at least offline. While the races were the highlight for me in the previous games, here they far less so as having to memorise routes and/or look at an onscreen map while doing 180 mph just feels unfair and distracts from the thrill of racing fast from A to B. The shorter races are fine but I struggle with the longer races, particularly the ones that finish in the western part of the map as the roads are more twisty and there are less junctions so if I take a wrong turn that's the race ballsed up... and there's no Restart option, of course! Also having to change cars at the sparsely placed junkyards is a right royal pain when the game goes to great lengths to point out that difficult car types are better for different events - why can't I change them on the fly then? Grrrrr... :/

    Good then but not great is my take on the game. Takedown is still the pinnacle of the series IMO.

  • BlueDot #15 4 years ago

    So Fox News advertising Mass Effect as a porno game for the sexbox didn't help sales then ? I guess UK consumers don't watch that channel :-)

  • zuljin #16 4 years ago

    A post from Darren without any mention of jaggies? Whats this world coming to? ;p

  • Darren #17 4 years ago

    I thought I always mentioned screen tearing actually but, sadly, Burnout Paradise doesn't have any of that... :p

  • Triggerhappytel #18 4 years ago

    skillian - It's common practice, and "tying publishers' hands" is overstating it somewhat.

    Well, one assumes they are under some sort of contractual obligation to only advertise the game on TV as a PS3 title, which does create restricitions for EA, although I wonder if this sort of practice really has an impact on sales.

    As for Bioshock, I imagine Microsoft wanted it advertised for the 360 in an effort to boost the console's sales. Perhaps this was agreed when they bought console exclusivity on the game.

  • Whizzo #19 4 years ago

    Put all the pc gamers had already downloaded and completed the game before it was released, so why would they need to bother advertising the PC version?

    Er no.

    The BioShock TV ad had the Games For Windows logo flash up before the 360 one that finished it anyway.

  • Gaol #20 4 years ago

    The demo actually put me off this title, or I'd already have bought it. As opposed to DMC4, which I wasn't going to bother with till playing the trial.


  • monkie_king #21 4 years ago

    "So Fox News advertising Mass Effect as a porno game for the sexbox didn't help sales then ? I guess people with three-digit IQs don't watch that channel :-)"

    fixed.

  • sickpuppysoftware #22 4 years ago

    There's a lot of Wii games in that list. I wonder if it's the number of consoles sold or the relative cheapness of the games that's helping most?

  • drxym #23 4 years ago

    The the sales split shows just how close the PS3 is to overtaking the 360 in the UK. Sony may be right to think they'll be ahead everywhere in Europe by the summer.