UK charts: The Sims 3 rides high

By Robert Purchese Published 8 June, 2009

Red Faction close, Star Ocean not.

The Sims 3 enters the UK all-formats Chart at number one this week, claiming the fourth biggest opening weekend for a PC game here - behind the two World of Warcraft expansions and Championship Manager 4.

Newcomer Red Faction: Guerrilla pursues at two, but all other débutantes miss the top 10. Those are FUEL at 12, Sacred 2 (on consoles) at 15, Star Ocean: The Last Hope at 18 and Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum at 27.

The Wii re-release of Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat only manages 10 in the Wii-specific chart where Punch-Out!!, incidentally, falls to 12. The latter has yet to break into the All-Formats top 40 after three weeks on sale. Another new Nintendo game, Walk With Me! Do You Know Your Walking Routine? also misses an All-Formats top 40 spot, entering at nine in the DS platform chart.

Elsewhere, inFamous, Guitar Hero: Metallica and Virtua Tennis 2009 keep pace in the top 10 at six, eight and nine respectively.

Also, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is outselling World at War, and we notably wave bye bye to Bionic Commando and The Godfather II - perhaps to never see them again.

This Week Last Week Title Platform(s)
1 New entry The Sims 3 PC
2 New entry Red Faction: Guerrilla PS3, Xbox 360
3 1 UFC 2009: Undisputed PS3, Xbox 360
4 3 EA Sports Active Wii
5 6 Wii Fit Wii
6 5 inFamous PS3
7 2 Pokémon Platinum DS
8 4 Guitar Hero: Metallica PS3, Xbox 360
9 8 Virtua Tennis 2009 PS3, Xbox 360
10 11 Terminator Salvation PC, PS3, Xbox 360
11 7 FIFA 09 PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
12 New entry FUEL PS3, Xbox 360
13 13 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS
14 12 Mario Kart Wii Wii
15 Re-entry Sacred 2: Fallen Angel PC, PS3, Xbox 360
16 15 Call of Duty: World at War PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
17 16 My Fitness Coach Wii
18 New entry Star Ocean: The Last Hope Xbox 360
19 10 Wii Play Wii
20 New entry Mystery Stories DS
21 17 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Wii, DS
22 9 X-Men Origins: Wolverine DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
23 18 Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy DS
24 20 Professor Layton and the Curious Village DS
25 23 Guitar Hero: World Tour Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
26 14 Big Family Games Wii
27 New entry Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 Wii
28 27 Carnival: Funfair Games Wii
29 28 Football Manager 2009 PC
30 35 Night at the Museum 2 DS, Wii, Xbox 360
31 21 Ben 10: Alien Force Wii, DS, PS2, PSP
32 25 Dr Kawashima's Brain Training DS
33 26 SEGA Superstars Tennis DS, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
34 30 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, PS2, Wii
35 22 Hannah Montana: The Movie Game DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
36 24 Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360, PS3, PC
37 32 Halo Wars Xbox 360
38 Re-entry Gears of War 2 Xbox 360
39 38 LEGO Indiana Jones PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
40 31 Resident Evil 5 PS3, Xbox 360

Leisure software charts compiled by Gfk 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.

You may also like...

Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Dizzy #1 3 years ago

    Halo wars seems to have rather good staying power for a console RTS. Impressive.

    Looks like the "mystery" solving games are also rather big on DS. Good!

  • Ducklord #2 3 years ago

    Good to see inFamous still doing well- might prompt Sucker Punch to get started on some DLC. :)

  • Eraysor #3 3 years ago

    "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is outselling World at War"

    Happy days!

  • youhavenomail #4 3 years ago

    COD4 is the Dark Side Of The Moon of videogames.

  • Wastelander #5 3 years ago

    Go Sims!

  • Omroth #6 3 years ago

    Glad to see your completely ridiculous review of Red Faction hasn't hurt it too badly.

  • FooAtari #7 3 years ago

    Sims 3 at no.1 ?

    But teh piracy kills the sales!!

  • Darren #8 3 years ago

    @Omroth - Do do realise that a 7/10 EG-rated game is "good", right?

  • andywilkie35 #9 3 years ago

    Well I bought Star Ocean :)

  • kissthestick #10 3 years ago

    same here @ 17quid :)

  • Vistrix #11 3 years ago

    Someone send an email to SE and tell them the Star Ocean fans are on the PS3/ PSP, waiting.

  • Farzlepot #12 3 years ago

    And people said PC gaming was dying!

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #13 3 years ago

    It's always nice when a PC-exclusive gets number one! And Sims 3 is fab.

  • NewbieZilla #14 3 years ago

    So, Star Ocean any good those of you who have it?

  • andywilkie35 #15 3 years ago

    I wouldn't say all of the Star Ocean fans are on PS3/PSP waiting. Star Ocean 3 is one of my favourite games of all time so I got it on Xbox. I could have got it on PS3/PSP but why should I if its out already on a console I also own?

  • andywilkie35 #16 3 years ago

    @NewbieZilla

    I'm about 15 hours in and I'm really enjoying it. Just feels like a HD version of Star Ocean 3. Voice acting is appalling in places but I wasn't expecting anything different. Battle trophies are as awesome as ever too

  • des #17 3 years ago

    Star Ocean 4 did much better than i thought...

  • FooAtari #18 3 years ago

    And people said PC gaming was dying!

    Is that the second time this year a PC game has been No 1.

    While it's obviouslly not as big a platform as consoles for sales, it's still profitiable to release games on

  • JahB #19 3 years ago

    While it's obviouslly not as big a platform as consoles for sales, it's still profitiable to release games on

    only if it's an MMO or if the target audience is not educated enough to know how to torrent games. obviously the sims falls into the latter category

  • skillian #20 3 years ago

    only if it's an MMO or if the target audience is not educated enough to know how to torrent games. obviously the sims falls into the latter category

    This is untrue.

    Usually the biggest-selling games are those that play to the PC's strengths, and appeal to exactly the type of person who knows their way around a PC and knows what torrents are. Games like Dawn of War II and Total War.

    That's beside the fact that the statement is patently absurd - if PC games weren't profitable they wouldn't get made, simple as that. Yet every year the PC has as many or more platform exclusive games than all the consoles.

  • Omroth #21 3 years ago

    @Omroth - Do do realise that a 7/10 EG-rated game is "good", right?

    I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the rating system:

    7 - Quite Good
    8 - Good
    9 - Very Good
    10 - Average

    I just personally think that Red Faction 3 is an absolute lock for an 8, and a 9 with the "right" reviewer. SUBJECTIVE obj.

  • FooAtari #22 3 years ago

    @JahB

    Crysis (targeted at 'core' gamer) and Spore (targeted at 'casual') both seem to invalidate that statement.

    Crysis sold between 1 - 2 million copies I think. And Spore was pirated to hell, and still sold pretty well anyway.

    Also, these charts dont include disgital distribution

  • Gnort #23 3 years ago

    And people said PC gaming was dying!

    Come on guys, it's the Sims, it's the latest version of the highest selling game of all time. Nothing, not piracy, not DRM issues, not the "death" of the PC gaming industry was ever going to stop it being number one. They could advertise on the box "This game will give you AIDS" and it would still outsell everything else on the market by a country mile.

  • carrliadiere #24 3 years ago

    Star Ocean did have zero publicity, wheras it's been tough to escape Red Faction. Star Ocean Collector's Ediiton was only Ł38 on Amazon, I got mine. It's pretty good so far, Reimi FTW!

  • rhubarbandcustard #25 3 years ago

    I bought The Sims 3 at the weekend. My very first Sims game.

    Installed it on Sunday and sat looking at the screen for around an hour looking quite befuddled.

    I had a similar reaction to Viva Pinata. A game I later grew to love.

    So...maybe the Sims will grow on me to?

  • Farzlepot #26 3 years ago

    "While it's obviouslly not as big a platform as consoles for sales, it's still profitiable to release games on"

    Depending on who you ask, the PC is either less profitable than any single one of the big three games consoles, or more profitable than all three combined.

    The problem with deciding is that it's a mess out there in PC land. Take the PlayStation. Sony's brand name appears on every game you buy for it. They get a share of the royalties from every purchase you make at the shops. For all intents and purposes, Sony is the over-arching dictator of PlayStation land, from whom no sales receipt goes by unread. The same is true of Microsoft and the Xbox 360, Nintendo and the Wii, and all of those other games consoles out there.

    PC gaming, on the other hand, has no real authority keeping tabs on everything. It also has more ways of generating profit from games. Not only do you have numerous publishers raking in dollar from retail sales, but you also have a multitude of different digital distribution platforms making their own cash. Add in several different operating platforms, with games being made for each, and the mind just boggles.

    Just when you think you've had enough with numbers, along come MMOs and their monthly subscription fees. When you're talking about overall profits made on the PC, do you lump in WoW's subscription fees? EverQuest 2's Station Cash? Even The Sims 3, the star of this article, has some kind of premium store which, knowing EA's pricing policies and the scope of Sims fandom, is probably already raking in a fare share of the moolah. If you're an ingenious businessman as well as a games developer, the flexible and anarchal PC platform has so many different ways of making money that I doubt anybody could list them all in a single post.

    So, depending on who you ask, PC gaming is either not very profitable at all, or it makes more money than any console manufacturer could ever dream of ever. Depending on who you ask.

  • Miths #27 3 years ago

    "only if it's an MMO or if the target audience is not educated enough to know how to torrent games. obviously the sims falls into the latter category"

    So are you saying that those of us who choose not to shoplift our groceries, also do so out of simple stupidity?
    Just because you can steal something doesn't mean we all (including "the educated";) choose to do so :).

  • Discalceaterabbit #28 3 years ago

    I blame piracy.
    No wait.....

  • stevetuck #29 3 years ago

    Its good to see that casual gamers dont know how to pirate games :)

  • Skandalle #30 3 years ago

    Let the expansion packs flood!
    fly my lovelys!...

  • YoungPayters #31 3 years ago

    COD 4 is outselling WAW, haha, hate to be working at treyarch right now. Must be a shitty feeling that a game out for almost 2 years is still outselling yours, brilliant!