UK Top 40: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 denies Assassin's Creed

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has held firm at the top of the UK charts in the year's busiest week of game releases, despite its second week sales dropping by 87 per cent.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations, denied a first place finish, debuted in second place - pushing Skyrim into third.

Revelations sneaked an extra 4 per cent of first week sales past last year's Brotherhood, but launched on a Tuesday, meaning it was on sale three days longer. Regardless, it is Ubisoft's biggest UK launch ever.

A deluge of new software made for a completely changed landscape in the rest of the top ten, with just three other titles surviving from last week.

Wacky open-world dildo 'em-up Saints Row: The Third launched in fourth, shoving footie stalwart FIFA 12 to fifth. Launch week Saints Row sales are 43 per cent higher than Saints Row 2's.

Halo remake Combat Evolved Anniversary launched in sixth, ahead of 10/10 Nintendo epic Zelda: Skyward Sword in seventh.

Battlefield 3 was eighth, booted down five places by the new arrivals but still beating Nintendo's other new effort - Super Mario 3D Land arrived in ninth.

Just Dance 3 was tenth, ahead of EA's dreary driver Need for Speed: The Run. For reference, last year's Criterion-developed Hot Pursuit landed in 3rd place - with sales around double that of this year's The Run.

Other new entry Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 was buried beneath the other new releases, only conjuring up a thirteenth place.

Further down the chart Mario & Sonic London 2012 Olympic Games hurdled into twentieth, DanceStar Party boogied into 33rd and Kinect Disneyland Adventures scraped a 39th place entry.

Capcom's Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and PlayStation Move game Medieval Moves failed to chart.

The full top 40 lies below.