The UK Games Charts: Call of Duty Takes on All Comers
Tomb Raider and Need for Speed fail to take the top
Another week, another seven days at the top of the UK All Formats Chart for Call of Duty: World at War. Not only has it outdone its predecessor, CoD4, with a second week at the top, it's also held off challenges from newcomers Need for Speed Undercover and Tomb Raider Underworld.
Despite shedding 51% of last week's sales, the Call of Duty beast has still outdone its closest competitor, coming from Electronic Arts, by two and a half to one. That closest competitor isn't what you'd expect, either. It's FIFA 09, courtesy of a 28% sales jump pushing it up three places.
So, surely Number 3 must be one of the new heavy hitters? Nope. Not even close. It's Mario Kart Wii after 33 weeks in the Chart. It accelerates five places with a 33% sales jump.
Finally, at Number 4, we get a new entry. EA's Need for Speed Undercover cruises in there, earning it the lowest first week chart position for a next-gen NFS title.
Mario Kart Wii isn't the only crusty Nintendo title doing well in the Top 10 this week. Wii Fit is up from Number 12 to Number 5, Brain Training's up from Number 13 to Number 6 and Wii Play is up from Number 11 to Number 10.
Other than World at War, SEGA's Football Manager 2009 is the only title to drop sales this week. It drops 55% of last week's sales and four places to Number 7.
So, we seem to have got a fair way into SPOnG's Charts report without finding out where Eidos' Tomb Raider Underworld has debuted, haven't we? Time for the big reveal. Number 9 is where it's kicked off its Charts life. Number 9. A bit disappointing for what should have been one of the year's biggest releases. Still, it outsold last year's Tomb Raider Anniversary, which was a re-make of the first TR game, in its first week by... 6,700. 51% of Underworld's sales were on the PS3, with 34% on the 360 and the remainder spread across the Wii, DS and PC.
Wii Music ups its game from last week's Number 16 début, climbing to Number 12 with a 67% sales boost.
The only new entry that has so far gone unmentioned comes from EA and Valve – Left 4 Dead for PC and 360 starts its Chart life at Number 15.
One major retail casualty this week is Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. After entering the Chart at Number 2, it's down a dramatic 32 places to Number 34, dropping 91% of last week's sales. That no doubt has something to do with the game being available for download, however.
Also worthy of note, if only for its underwhelming performance, is Sony's LittleBigPlanet. In its third week in the Charts it drops from Number 19 to Number 24.
Next week sees the start of the pre-Christmas releases lull, but there are a couple of titles that might make a dent. Expect a strong performance from Sony's PS3-exclusive Resistance 2, while SEGA's Sonic Unleashed might make an impact.
You can see the Top 10 in full below, with last week's positions in brackets.
(1) 1 Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
(5) 2 FIFA 09 - EA Sports
(8) 3 Mario Kart Wii - Nintendo
(12) 4 Need For Speed: Undercover - EA Games
(12) 5 Wii Fit - Nintendo
(13) 6 Dr Kawashima'S Brain Training - Nintendo
(3) 7 Football Manager 2009 - SEGA
(9) 8 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 - Konami
(NE) 9 Tomb Raider: Underworld - Eidos
(11) 10 Wii Play - Nintendo
Despite shedding 51% of last week's sales, the Call of Duty beast has still outdone its closest competitor, coming from Electronic Arts, by two and a half to one. That closest competitor isn't what you'd expect, either. It's FIFA 09, courtesy of a 28% sales jump pushing it up three places.
So, surely Number 3 must be one of the new heavy hitters? Nope. Not even close. It's Mario Kart Wii after 33 weeks in the Chart. It accelerates five places with a 33% sales jump.
Finally, at Number 4, we get a new entry. EA's Need for Speed Undercover cruises in there, earning it the lowest first week chart position for a next-gen NFS title.
Mario Kart Wii isn't the only crusty Nintendo title doing well in the Top 10 this week. Wii Fit is up from Number 12 to Number 5, Brain Training's up from Number 13 to Number 6 and Wii Play is up from Number 11 to Number 10.
Other than World at War, SEGA's Football Manager 2009 is the only title to drop sales this week. It drops 55% of last week's sales and four places to Number 7.
So, we seem to have got a fair way into SPOnG's Charts report without finding out where Eidos' Tomb Raider Underworld has debuted, haven't we? Time for the big reveal. Number 9 is where it's kicked off its Charts life. Number 9. A bit disappointing for what should have been one of the year's biggest releases. Still, it outsold last year's Tomb Raider Anniversary, which was a re-make of the first TR game, in its first week by... 6,700. 51% of Underworld's sales were on the PS3, with 34% on the 360 and the remainder spread across the Wii, DS and PC.
Wii Music ups its game from last week's Number 16 début, climbing to Number 12 with a 67% sales boost.
The only new entry that has so far gone unmentioned comes from EA and Valve – Left 4 Dead for PC and 360 starts its Chart life at Number 15.
One major retail casualty this week is Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. After entering the Chart at Number 2, it's down a dramatic 32 places to Number 34, dropping 91% of last week's sales. That no doubt has something to do with the game being available for download, however.
Also worthy of note, if only for its underwhelming performance, is Sony's LittleBigPlanet. In its third week in the Charts it drops from Number 19 to Number 24.
Next week sees the start of the pre-Christmas releases lull, but there are a couple of titles that might make a dent. Expect a strong performance from Sony's PS3-exclusive Resistance 2, while SEGA's Sonic Unleashed might make an impact.
You can see the Top 10 in full below, with last week's positions in brackets.
(1) 1 Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
(5) 2 FIFA 09 - EA Sports
(8) 3 Mario Kart Wii - Nintendo
(12) 4 Need For Speed: Undercover - EA Games
(12) 5 Wii Fit - Nintendo
(13) 6 Dr Kawashima'S Brain Training - Nintendo
(3) 7 Football Manager 2009 - SEGA
(9) 8 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 - Konami
(NE) 9 Tomb Raider: Underworld - Eidos
(11) 10 Wii Play - Nintendo
Companies:
Activision Blizzard Eidos Electronic Arts Konami Nintendo SEGA
Games: Call of Duty: World at War FIFA 09 Mario Kart Wii Need For Speed: Undercover Tomb Raider: Underworld Wii Fit Wii Music Wii Play World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King
Games: Call of Duty: World at War FIFA 09 Mario Kart Wii Need For Speed: Undercover Tomb Raider: Underworld Wii Fit Wii Music Wii Play World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King
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Comments
PreciousRoi 25 Nov 2008 11:06
1/9
It just goes to prove what I've always said.
Killing Nazis is fun.
Also, Lara Croft is overrated, old, tired, and is the process of fading away into oblivion...at least I can hope so. I am so not looking forward to what her older, still ardent fanboys will be like say 10 years from now, when the Special Limited Edition of Tomb Raider's then current iteration will be packaged with the future equivalent of Viagra.
Killing Nazis is fun.
Also, Lara Croft is overrated, old, tired, and is the process of fading away into oblivion...at least I can hope so. I am so not looking forward to what her older, still ardent fanboys will be like say 10 years from now, when the Special Limited Edition of Tomb Raider's then current iteration will be packaged with the future equivalent of Viagra.
tyrion 25 Nov 2008 14:01
2/9
PreciousRoi wrote:
Also, Lara Croft is overrated, old, tired, and is the process of fading away into oblivion...at least I can hope so.
I don't see how. Drake's Fortune was essentially just a Tomb Raider game with a different central character and a few game play mechanics that could be used by TR no problem. It was lauded to high heaven. The recent Prince of Persia games owed a lot to Tomb Raider. You could even say that Assassin's Creed was influenced by Tomb Raider, although that's a less direct link.
Strip away all of your pre-conceptions, that are possibly based on socially stunted nerds' reactions to a female character or the mainstream press' inability to moderate any games coverage, and the recent games stand on their own as genuinely good games.
No character or game series could stand up to the hype and glare that Lara Croft and Tomb Raider were put under. Anybody with a brain would have thought "oh no not her again." I certainly did.
However, starting with Legend, the Tomb Raider games have been re-started, in a Batman Begins type of way, and have, I believe, overcome the previous hype and disappointment that was crystallised by Angel of Darkness.
If you haven't played Legend, Anniversary or the new Underworld, give them a go, Legend should be available at bargain-bin prices now. If you liked the original Tomb Raider, Sands of Time or Drake's, then you have a good chance of liking Legend.
In case you didn't work it out, I'm a bit of a Tomb Raider fan. I've written reviews of the last three games; Legend, Anniversary and (just up today) Underworld. And I didn't need Viagra to get through any of them. :-)
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headcasephil 25 Nov 2008 16:23
3/9
i feel that nfs could have done so much better but fist of all there was no demo look at all the last nfs that have hit 360 all have had a demo and because last years nfs was crap people are not so keen on spending £40 on a game that might be crap
tomb raider is one of types of game that dose so much better when it is put in the bargen bucket / bog off shelf like i feel the mirrors edge will
we all new that call of duty waw will be at top spot as a result of call of duty 4 and mario kart is going to sell like hot cakes as people are wanting to get it for xmas presents
tomb raider is one of types of game that dose so much better when it is put in the bargen bucket / bog off shelf like i feel the mirrors edge will
we all new that call of duty waw will be at top spot as a result of call of duty 4 and mario kart is going to sell like hot cakes as people are wanting to get it for xmas presents
deleted 25 Nov 2008 20:00
4/9
PreciousRoi wrote:
It just goes to prove what I've always said.
Killing Nazis is fun.
Killing Nazis is fun.
Yes quite esp. when the said Nazi is your best freind!
PreciousRoi 27 Nov 2008 10:38
5/9
OK, test drove the TR:U demo.
It looks pretty. Wasn't impressed with the camera or combat, and being prompted to kill what I assume was a Bengal Tiger with a sticky grenade...well, deep in the darkest recesses of my triple-mortgaged soul there dwells an inner bleeding heart liberal and nothing in Manhunt ever prompted him to start shrieking as much as that did. Also, watching her climb up the walls looking up at her clingy shorts with the strappy accessory belt made me feel kinda pervy, in a way that would have been charming when I was a lad, now, not so much.
Not my cuppa, and the bitch has too much baggage, without showing me anything to make up for it...better combat, camera, and/or a more ecologically responsible (say using her jumping and leaping skills to avoid endangered predators while stealing the archeological treasures of the world) could have easily brought me around, but she missed the mark. I understand from reading your review that there is a trank gun available for use, which is nice, but are there any incentives to not slaughtering the native fauna? I'd need something more compelling than an Achievement/trophy, if indeed they bothered with such.
I just expect more from a current gen game in the area of controls, if I'm going to be frustrated by a game, I'd prefer it to be from my lack of skill or execution, and TR limits me on the control side. From your review, it appears that you expected a bit more from it as well.
It looks pretty. Wasn't impressed with the camera or combat, and being prompted to kill what I assume was a Bengal Tiger with a sticky grenade...well, deep in the darkest recesses of my triple-mortgaged soul there dwells an inner bleeding heart liberal and nothing in Manhunt ever prompted him to start shrieking as much as that did. Also, watching her climb up the walls looking up at her clingy shorts with the strappy accessory belt made me feel kinda pervy, in a way that would have been charming when I was a lad, now, not so much.
Not my cuppa, and the bitch has too much baggage, without showing me anything to make up for it...better combat, camera, and/or a more ecologically responsible (say using her jumping and leaping skills to avoid endangered predators while stealing the archeological treasures of the world) could have easily brought me around, but she missed the mark. I understand from reading your review that there is a trank gun available for use, which is nice, but are there any incentives to not slaughtering the native fauna? I'd need something more compelling than an Achievement/trophy, if indeed they bothered with such.
I just expect more from a current gen game in the area of controls, if I'm going to be frustrated by a game, I'd prefer it to be from my lack of skill or execution, and TR limits me on the control side. From your review, it appears that you expected a bit more from it as well.
tyrion 27 Nov 2008 13:49
6/9
PreciousRoi wrote:
Wasn't impressed with the camera or combat, and being prompted to kill what I assume was a Bengal Tiger with a sticky grenade
I wasn't impressed with either camera or combat either, but the demo encouraging tiger-cide via explosives? That's a bit harsh. TBH, I really only used the sticky grenades by mistake or out of frustration.
PreciousRoi wrote:
are there any incentives to not slaughtering the native fauna? I'd need something more compelling than an Achievement/trophy, if indeed they bothered with such.
I've not been made aware of them, but then I don't mind emptying several clips of 9mm into a giant spider's face during a game, biodiversity be damned.
PreciousRoi wrote:
From your review, it appears that you expected a bit more from it as well.
Yeah, it missed the "spark" that the older games had and that Legend managed to rekindle after Angel of Darkness nearly extinguished it.
PreciousRoi 27 Nov 2008 14:33
7/9
tyrion wrote:
PreciousRoi wrote:
Wasn't impressed with the camera or combat, and being prompted to kill what I assume was a Bengal Tiger with a sticky grenade
I wasn't impressed with either camera or combat either, but the demo encouraging tiger-cide via explosives? That's a bit harsh. TBH, I really only used the sticky grenades by mistake or out of frustration.
Perhaps it is, but I honestly did experience a visceral reaction to it...even as I hit the button and scurried away from the blast, I felt a twinge of guilt and thought to myself "Really? Is that what they want from me? Blasting gorgeous, endangered, top-level predators with explosives? I don't want to be that person, f**k this." At least in Far Cry 2 you never kill any innocents, everyone you kill is somehow dirty.
Yeah sure, giant spiders, f**k 'em...I wouldn't do it in real life, outside of Australia, (actually had a pet tarantula I inherited from a friend, she was a sweetheart, I named her Shelob) as I prefer arachnidia to their prey, but giant spiders are comfortably non-mammalian and, if of a sufficient size, mythical enough not to offend my sensibilities. Hell, make it a super-endangered (read:actually extinct) Smilodon and I probably wouldn't have minded...I certainly was never bothered by Turok, while Cabela's Dangerous Hunts I found distasteful. (not the least because it reduced the killing of exotic animals to an arcade-like setting)
My uncle once offered to have me come out to his house and shoot coyotes with him...I think I lectured him for a half hour or more, and didn't speak to him for a week...and the FSM knows I love me some guns and don't mind shooting prey animals...
Real Men Don't Shoot Predators (That They Don't Plan On Wearing).
Not sure where I stand on bears...they are the greatest threat known to Mankind, omnivorous, and you can eat them, I suppose it depends on if the bears need killing. (due to overpopulation or directly threatening people)
I just found it to be a particularly ugly moment, and unnecessarily so.
TimSpong 27 Nov 2008 14:35
8/9
phil cort wrote:
i feel that nfs could have done so much better...
Having been playing it, I think it could have done much, much, much better - just not in terms of sales.
Back to Burnout for me.
Tim
DoctorDee 27 Nov 2008 15:37
9/9
Tim Smith wrote:
Having been playing it, I think it could have done much, much, much better - just not in terms of sales.
He made me play it. It was S**T. Unexpurgated ball sweat.
I would say I have never played a worse game. But I have of course. But never one that will sell so well, or which comes from such a successful franchise.
I honestly cannot believe that in a post Burnout Paradise world, there is any market for such a game.
