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UK charts: World at War calls the shots News
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by
Robert Purchese
Call of Duty: World at War has charged to the top of the UK all-formats chart this week, becoming the third fastest-selling game ever in the region.
The shooter beat off competition from World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King (in at two), which became the fastest-selling PC game in the UK of all time - a record previously held by Championship Manager 4.
But apparently football management games still draw the crowds. Football Manager 2009 enters the chart at three, proving that strategically placed adverts between big televised football matches pay dividends.
Last week's leader, Gears of War 2, falls to four - the spot previously held by Sony's system seller, LittleBigPlanet. That game, unfortunately, tumbled all the way down to 19. Oh dear.
And there were similar stories for other high profile releases, as Wii Music bucks the trend and enters at 16; sitting behind three other platform stalwarts: Mario Kart Wii, Wii Play and Wii Fit.
Perhaps more shocking, however, was a first-week entry for DICE eye-catcher Mirror's Edge at 20.
Their struggles make the rest of the top 10 spots all the more valuable. FIFA 09 sold well to take five, followed by Guitar Hero World Tour up from 17 to six, thanks to the arrival of the instrument bundles.
Bizarrely, to us at least, charming DS adventure Professor Layton and the Curious Village managed to drop just one spot to seven, ahead of Mario Kart Wii at eight, PES 2009 at nine, and WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 at 10.
Other big movers and shakers this week were Fallout 3 down from three to 14, Quantum of Solace down from eight to 18, Far Cry 2 down from 14 to 26, and Fable II down from 16 to 27.
Quickly: LEGO Indiana Jones managed to burst back into the list at 21, as did Viva Piñata, albeit at 37.
This week waves goodbye to Saints Row 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Dead Space.
(Update: As a few of you have noticed, the chart this week is also noteworthy for the absence of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which came out on Friday. Poor old Rare made 15th in the Xbox 360 chart, but couldn't dent the top 40, which you can see below. Ouch.)
- Call of Duty: World at War (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS)
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
- Football Manager 2009 (PC, PSP)
- Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
- FIFA 09 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)
- Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii)
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
- Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
- WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2)
- Wii Play (Wii)
- Wii Fit (Wii)
- Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
- Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii, DS)
- Wii Music (Wii)
- LEGO Batman (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)
- Quantum of Solace (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS)
- LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
- Mirror's Edge (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
- LEGO Indiana Jones (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)
- Carnival: Funfair Games (Wii)
- Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Wii)
- Kung Fu Panda (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS)
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Xbox 360, PS3)
- Far Cry 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
- Fable II (Xbox 360)
- More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima (DS)
- Ben 10: Protector of Earth (Wii, DS, PS2, PSP)
- MySims Kingdom (Wii, DS)
- Disney's High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! (Wii, PS2)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)
- More Touchmaster (DS)
- More Game Party (Wii)
- MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
- WALL-E (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS)
- Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)
- High School Musical 3: Senior Year (DS)
- Tom Clancy's EndWar (PS3, Xbox 360)
- Mario Kart DS (DS)
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, ©2008 ELSPA (UK) Ltd.
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electrolite
18/11/08 @ 09:00
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What this shows is if you're bothered about chart positions, don't release games at this time of year. The Top 10 includes COD, WOW, GOW, Football Manager, FIFA, Pro Evo, Guitar Hero, WWE and Mario Kart. In terms of games franchises, it doesn't get much bigger than that so there is no room in the Top 10 for the likes of LBP, Wii Music, Mirrors Edge etc.These games could still be doing numbers that would otherwise see them top the charts any other time of year.
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I know I'm definitely only buying a couple of titles before Xmas, one being Gears 2. Put a couple more on my wishlist for 25th december, the rest will be picked up on the cheap/second hand/january sales.
So I guess some publishers should perhaps rethink their release schedule. Look at SFIV and RE5, that's coming out in the first three months of 2009, and I'm sure they'll enjoy massive sales. |
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makeamazing
18/11/08 @ 09:09
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Too many games, thats the main problem. I am not surprised that games might have a big (or ok) first week and will tumble. Just because having this many games is costly.
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Mirror's Edge, (impressive) ad campaign kick off after release though so will be interesting to see how that game fairs next week.
Having played and completed it twice the novelty value wears off quite quick. It is a very limited game. Sorry I picked it up.
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Nice to see Wii Music fail so much. Still, I have to say I'm thoroughly disappointed in people.
1. Cash-in game by second-rate developer 2. Expansion pack, it's not even a proper fucking game 3. Completely broken alpha copy of a game whose new main selling point is shite . . . 19. The most innovative game in recent years |
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Negotiator
18/11/08 @ 09:13
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LBP is a hardcore gamers game, anyone who thought any different is a moron. Too much time and effort has to be put into the game to get anything out of it, thats why its not selling great.
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Perhaps more shocking, however, was a first-week entry for DICE eye-catcher Mirror's Edge at 20.
*sigh* EA might as well go back to their crappy ways if they want to be the kings of software again *sigh* LBP is a hardcore gamers game, anyone who thought any different is a moron. Too much time and effort has to be put into the game to get anything out of it, thats why its not selling great. What!? You don't have to make a level at all, you can just play the game playing other peoples made levels exclusively if you want. |
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@Zomoniac
I'll agree that we'd all rather see some other stuff up there. But I think Lich King is a pretty decent effort probably containing more gameplay hours than most of this list combined. Sigh. Maybe they should give the Sackboys some guns and WO2 helmets for it to sell though. Not that it's that bad. But not worth no1 either. |
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the_dudefather
18/11/08 @ 09:21
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God damn professor Layton is rightfully kicking ass in the charts
'15: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games' what the hell? is it the Olympics again next year or something? |
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Triggerhappytel
18/11/08 @ 09:29
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I fully agree with electrolite's post. I'm very sad to see the likes of LBP and MEdge do so comparatively poorly, given that they're two of the most innovative games in their genres in years, however given the competition it's not too surprising.
I'm hoping LBP has steady sales over a longer period - also, the price has just dropped to 30 pound online, which may help sales. Sony needs to market it strongly for Christmas. |
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Triggerhappytel, Yeah, they really need to market the hell out of it. Thing is though can you blame them. They must know they've got a console that isn't priced at mass market entry level so it'd be a big risk throwing big money on marketing when the returns aren't that likely, especially with the economy.
Microsoft can play that game this year.
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most recently on 18/11/08 @ 09:34
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RamblinSydRumpo
18/11/08 @ 09:50
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I don't understand Sony at all. Their big advertising push should be for Little Big Planet which is absolutely awesome. My last 2 trips to the cinema revealed a stupendously lame advert for Buzz and one not much better for Motorstorm : Pacific Rift. Their entire marketing team should commit seppuku.
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What... no Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in the Top 40... that's depressing! Poor old Rare... will they ever have another big hit! :(
The game might not be the best in the series and is far from perfect but I love it for being cute, charming and colourful and for reminding me of my N64 days. It's totally unlike anything else on the Xbox 360 and in that respect it is refreshing. It deserved to do so much better... P.S. Pleased with the Mirror's Edge and Wii Music placings though... didn't even enjoy the demo of the former, all style and no substance, and having played the latter over the weekend on my sister's Wii I can only conclude that Nintendo have totally lost the plot as far as good Wii games are concerned. Dear me. |
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magicpocket
18/11/08 @ 09:54
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Nice to see Wii Music fail so much.
I think you'll find that a Wii trend has been for games such as this casual title not necessarily enter that high, but continue to sell at a steady rate through their lifetime, bringing in huge wads of £££ for Nintendo.
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michaelius
18/11/08 @ 09:54
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Sony must be reeling from the blow. The face of PS3 bombing at retail big time, in the US and UK at least. Wonder how it's doing in the rest of Europe.
Selling good enough to almost completly negate sales advantage of x360 in uk and us :D |
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bodypopper
18/11/08 @ 10:00
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In times of financial uncertainty the average gamer is always going to make safe game purchases (eg continuations of proven franchises). So no surprise with Mirror's Edge - it's not a platformer and it's not a shooter, it's somewhere inbetween. That's a tough sell.
LBP has been heavily promoted in loads of newspapers and mags. I guess some people here no longer have truck with 'old media' ;-). It's a good game with lots of charm, but it's basically a platformer with a level editor and online community, nothing much more. Maybe they should have put perks in there ;-). |
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Have LittleBigPlanet and B-K: Nuts & Bolts even been advertised on TV? I very, very rarely watch any terrestrial TV, haven't done for many months now, so I've no idea which games get advertised.
LittleBigPlanet deserves more success as not only does Sackboy make a memorable mascot for the PS3 but it's also a game that caters for the casual and hardcore markets alike. The casuals can play the game on and offline and feed off the stuff created by the dedicated hardcore fanbase who make some amazing stuff. It's almost the perfect game and could feasibly have an unlimited lifespan proved people keep making new content for it. |
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Problem is I'm still freaking 20% into Fallout 3 and other games. I really want to buy Nuts and Bolts and stuff like Last remnant. But publishers really really should scratch their head and start releasing stuff in other timeframes if they ever want to survive. August, July, etc. Gamers don't stop being gamers the rest of the year. If you got a hardcore product like ME it would have sold 1 milliion in August cause there was nothing at all. Just look at SC4, that did alright.
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kinky_mong
18/11/08 @ 10:08
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Am I the only person who saw LBP adverts all over the digital channels and the huge cover advert on The London Paper last week?
To be honest I'm not surprised Banjo didn't get in the charts. You'd have thought Rare would have learnt that completely changing the mechanics of a well known franchise isn't good and upsets the fans when they fucked up Starfox. Plus the demo was the most dull 45 minutes I've spent playing a game in a long time, and I did the Blacksmith job on Fable 2! |
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captainrentboy
18/11/08 @ 10:17
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Literally didn't sell one copy of Banjo in my store this weekend, how much did MS pay for Rare again? Fooking hell, they've got to be thinking they made a slight mistake by now. Upcoming Killer Instinct or not, fighting games don't exactly set the charts alight for too long anyway. What the hell are they going to do next? I'm kind of gutted too, because I like Rare's art style, and it's nice to have a team that put out more light hearted stuff on the 360.
Same with LBP, I said it would drop quickly down the charts throughout last week, and so it did. It's barely clinging into the top 20 even though it's in most retailer's console bundles. Gamers at large are a simple bunch, give them the choice of Generic sequel X or a new Innovate title, and they'll always go with what they know. It's a shame, because it'll soon be at the stage where no developer wants to take the risk anymore, and all we'll EVER have is the same ole Shooter,Racer or updated sports title. |
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captainrentboy, Yeah, they both need a big marketing, push especially Banjo as Microsoft are now in the business of courting the family. Can't really blame Rare if they aten't getting the backing they need from MS. Maybe that money's been put aside for Lips and YITM.
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PlugMonkey
18/11/08 @ 10:33
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"In times of financial uncertainty the average gamer is always going to make safe game purchases (eg continuations of proven franchises). So no surprise with Mirror's Edge - it's not a platformer and it's not a shooter, it's somewhere inbetween. That's a tough sell. "
Bodypopper: I'm not sure how much it has to do with the financial crisis, this is just blockbuster season. What's selling well? Fable 2, GoW 2, Fallout 3, FIFA 09, FM09, Guitar Hero 4 and Call of Duty. All the big, big sequels, same as every November. This is just the wrong time of year to release a kooky, innovative new game. Look what happened to Mirror's Edge's spiritual predecessor - Prince of Persia - when it was released at the same time of year. Sank like a stone. Mirror's Edge and LBP don't have an established fan base yet, so they are liable to get a bit lost in the feeding frenzy.
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most recently on 18/11/08 @ 10:33
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groovychainsaw
18/11/08 @ 10:38
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Big games sell well when launched! Smaller, less well known/advertised games lose out! Shocking surprise. I look forward to ocming back from my holiday in the new year and picking up some of these 'flops' (at any other time, would have been more... noticable, at least) for much less than launch price (I anticipate LBP for £19.99 or less in Jan). When will they learn eh?
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I just don't find the core platforming emphasis of LBP exciting enough. The gamer in me is curious to see what it's all about, but not at £30 - £40.
I always planned to pick this up in around 6 - 9 months time, either pre owned or when it ships on Platinum for around £15. At that time there should also be a decent amount of user generated content to snap up. Have Sony put a demo of the game on PSN? |
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kinky_mong
18/11/08 @ 10:48
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kinky_mong, Maybe you were. How was the telly ad?
Pretty average. Just showed Sackboys in different costumes dicking about and very little game footage. |
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