UK Game Charts: Sweet FIFA All

Look, before we get all holier-than-thou about how no one is buying anything new for their gaming pleasure this year because the All Format's Chart from Chart-Track for Week 2 2009 looks depressingly like that from Week 1, let's look at some history.

Week 1 - 2008
(2) - 1 - FIFA 08 - EA Sport
(3) - 2 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision
(4) - 3 - The Simpsons Game - EA Games
(1) - 4 - Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft
(5) - 5 - Need For Speed: Prostreet - EA Games
(6) - 6 - Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 - Konami
(10) - 7 - The Golden Compass - SEGA
(8) - 8 - More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima - Nintendo
(9) - 9 - Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock - Activision
(7) - 10 - WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008 - THQ

Week 2 - 2008
(2) - 1 - Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision
(1) - 2 - FIFA 08 - EA Sports
(4) - 3 - Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft
(3) - 4 - The Simpsons Game - EA Games
(9) - 5 - Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock - Activision
(6) - 6 - Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 - Konami
(5) - 7 - Need For Speed: ProStreet - EA Games
(RE) - 8 - Dr Kawashima's Brain Training - Nintendo
(8) - 9 - More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima - Nintendo
(7) - 10 - The Golden Compass - SEGA

Now, let's look at this Week's chart:

Week 2 - 2009
(1) - 1 - FIFA '09 - EA
(2) - 2 - Call of Duty: World at War - Activision Blizzard
(3) - 3 - Need for Speed: Undercover - EA
(RE) - 4 - Wii Fit - Nintendo
(6) - 5 - Wii Play - Nintendo
(4) - 6 - Guitar Hero: World Tour - Activision Blizzard
(5) - 7 - Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - Sega
(9) - 8 - Quantum of Solace - Activision Blizzard
(RE) - 9 - LEGO Indiana Jones - LucasArts
(8) - 10 - Mario Kart Wii - Nintendo

Compare that to last week's.

See, nothing really changes. The first two weeks of 2008 and of 2009 both contained a FIFA, a Call of Duty, a Guitar Hero, a Need for Speed and a film tie-in The Golden Compass (2008), Quantum of Solace (2009).

In fact, 2008 was a scintilla more exciting than this year because it featured an actual new piece of intellectual property in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. What we also learn from this year-on-year comparison is that Brits or Poms or Limeys or whatever you want to call us (when did we stop being called Limeys?) are less concerned with training our brains than our with toning our bodies; Dr Kawashima is replaced in the Top 10 in 2009 by Wii Fit.

So, what's new and likely to shake us all up in Week 3? Well, CSI: New York: The Game, Jeep Thrills (ennui, sorry on Wii), The Lord of the Rings Conquest could all feature in next week's chart. We're betting they won't.

Before you go, the gap between FIFA '09 and Call of Duty: World at War has, according to Chart-Track, narrowed from "5,000 to 400 units".