26/May/2009

Major new releases over the last 2 months have been few and far between, but this week sees 3 big new titles at 1-2-3 across 4 different formats.

It’s taken THQ’s mixed martial arts ‘UFC 2009: Undisputed’ to finally wrestle the top spot out of Nintendo’s hands with impressive week 1 sales split 52% Xbox360 & 48% PS3 – the game is developed by Yuke’s, best known most recently for the ‘WWE Smackdown vs Raw’ series 2006-2009. Nintendo debut at No2 with ‘Pokemon Platinum’ on DS, a director’s cut of ‘Pokemon Diamond’ & ‘Pokemon Pearl’, released in July 2007. EA debut at No3 with ‘EA Sports Active’, a Wii title aimed squarely at the lifestyle/fitness segment. Nintendo’s ‘Wii Fit’ (+6%) had the last 7 consecutive weeks / 16 weeks in total at No1 and still needs 2 more No1’s to equal the all time record holder (‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ / Eidos). EA’s ‘FIFA 09’ (-8%) drops 3 places to No5, with Activision Blizzard’s ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (+2%) dropping 3 places to No6. Nintendo’s ‘Wii Play’ (+95%) drops 2 places to No7, Nintendo’s ‘Mario Kart Wii’ drops 3 places to No8 (+13%) and Ubisoft’s own Wii lifestyle/fitness title ‘My Fitness Coach’ (+82%) climbs 5 places and back in to the Top 10 at No9. Activision Blizzard’s ‘Call of Duty: World at War’ drops 6 places to No10 (-0%). Also new this week is Capcom’s ‘Bionic Commando’ at No14, THQ’s ‘Big Family Games’ at No30 and Codemasters’ ‘Damnation’ at No35.

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Taker666 said:

As I thought...Punch-Out didn't even make the top 40.

The few ads I saw were awful (concentrating purely on the two player mode..which made it look far worse than Wii Sports Boxing).

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Taker666 said:

As I thought...Punch-Out didn't even make the top 40.

The few ads I saw were awful (concentrating purely on the two player mode..which made it look far worse than Wii Sports Boxing).

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DMeisterJ said:

KZ2 still in the top 20 and LBP holding on!

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slaughterking said:

Darn, I totally forgot about Punch Out. Such a shame, hopefully Nintendo manages to pull a Layton with Punch Out and somehow make it more popular post-launch.

Spoiler

I can wish

Bionic Commando did pretty bad, too. The PS3 Version isn't even in the Top 40.

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Psychotext said:

I was waiting, and you didn't disappoint. :lol

(Out of interest, what are you planning to cheerlead when they eventually drop out of the top 40?)

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Taker666 said:

As I thought...Punch-Out didn't even make the top 40.

The few ads I saw were awful (concentrating purely on the two player mode..which made it look far worse than Wii Sports Boxing).

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DMeisterJ said:

KZ2 still in the top 20 and LBP holding on!

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Psychotext said:

I was waiting, and you didn't disappoint. :lol

(Out of interest, what are you planning to cheerlead when they eventually drop out of the top 40?)

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farnham said:

Punch Out is at No.7 in the wii chart

not a bad start

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farnham said:

Punch Out is at No.7 in the wii chart

not a bad start

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gtj1092 said:

EA sports active number 4 on the chart Punchout not to be seen. Draw your own conclusions.

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thaOwner said:

Good to see UFC doing so well. Such an awesome game. I will be picking that up soon as I get a job.

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gtj1092 said:

EA sports active number 4 on the chart Punchout not to be seen. Draw your own conclusions.

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Spiegel said:

No, it's not.
It's No.7 in the Wii Full Price chart but you are not counting the budget priced games.

It's a bad start considering that May is one of slowest months of the year and everything outside of the top 40 can't have sold more than 2-3k.

The same goes for Bionic Commando.

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farnham said:

Punch Out is at No.7 in the wii chart

not a bad start

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Interfectum said:

Wii gamers are more casual?

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UK video games market bounces back after slump
Weekly sales leap 55 per cent due to new releases and half term anticipation

The UK video games market’s weekly value has topped £20 million for the first time since April, MCV can reveal.

According to MCV calculations, based on today’s Gfk-ChartTrack/ELSPA weekly report, the UK market has hit £21.2 million for the week ending May 23rd.

This is a 55 per cent rise from last week’s result of £13.7 million, which was the lowest reported figure for almost two years.

The release of three major new games – THQ’s UFC 2009: Undisputed, Nintendo’s Pokemon Platinum and EA Sports Active – is the reason behind this week’s rise. Meanwhile, the arrival of half term benefited current chart games, with every Top Ten game besides FIFA 2009 enjoying a sales increase this week.

“The market reacts when big new games are released,” said UK GfK-ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch.

“In the last two months we’ve been starved on triple-A releases, so to have three come at the same time will certainly have an impact. And it is also half term, so the kids are off looking for some games to play.

“There are several big titles due over the coming weeks, including The Sims 3 and Infamous, so there’s reason to believe these results will continue for some time.”

Last week MCV revealed that the UK games market is 14 per cent down year-on-year.

However, this summer’s release schedule could provide a timely-boost for the industry, with the arrival of multiple big releases, including Fuel, Harry Potter, Infamous, Ghostbusters, The Sims 3, Wii Sports Resort, The Conduit, Transformers, Lego Battles, Virtua Tennis and more.

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Katana_Strikes said:

Suprised there's no Punch Out. Seen lots of ads on the TV for it.

Also suprised by the split in UFC between formats being so close. I thought the 360 would have romped home with the share for that one.

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bartris said:

Perhaps like many other Wii and DS games, PunchOut! will get a second wind on the charts over the coming months. A release date for Aussies wouldnt hurt either.

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EatChildren said:

I've become so disinterested in seeing charts as every fucking week it's the same shit, mostly on the Wii side. I just know coming in here to see if Overkill/Madworld/Punch-Out!! charted is a goddamn waste of time.

Punch-Out!! should have charted.

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01/Jun/2009

THQ’s ‘UFC 2009: Undisputed’ retains its grip on the top spot despite a 42% drop in sales.

Nintendo’s ‘Pokemon Platinum’ on DS (-28%) and EA’s ‘EA Sports Active’ (+42%) on Wii also hold their positions at No2 and No3 respectively. Activision Blizzard continue their successful franchise with the release of ‘Guitar Hero: Metallica’ in at No4 and Sony’s exclusive title ‘inFamous’ debut’s at No5. Nintendo’s ‘Wii Fit’ (-5%) moves down two places to No6 and EA’s ‘FIFA 09’ (-13%) follows, moving down to No7. The last new entry in the top 10 is Sega’s ‘Virtua Tennis 2009’ which is served at No8. Activision Blizzard’s ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ drops 3 places to No9 (-12%) and Nintendo’s ‘Wii Play’ (-10%) also drops down 3 to No10. The only other new entry in the top 40 this week is Warner Bros. Interactive’s movie tie-in ‘Terminator Salvation’ at No11.

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Neomoto said:

I didn't see any commercials for Punch-Out. Are they really that bad? That's a shame, the game deserves to sell tons from what I hear. I'll pick this up sooner or later (don't have time now to game at all), looks awesome to me.

EA seems to finally have a Wii hit of their own. I wonder if it will impact Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus in some way.

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