After nine weeks on the ELSPA/Charttrack All Formats entertainment chart, Sony's Athens 2004 takes the top position, making the title Sony's first number one since Eye Toy: Play over a year ago. Having entered at number eight at the beginning of July, the title sold steadily and remained within the top 10 during the run up to the games. In recent weeks, the title progressed toward the top, held back by Activision's Spider-man 2 and Doom 3. This week Doom 3 falls to number three, clearing the way for the official Olympic title, and allowing the webbed one to advance one place.
Driv3r also moves up a place to four, swapping positions with last week's new entry, Ubisoft's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow. Everyone's favourite green ogre lingers in sixth place in the shape of Shrek 2, having spent 11 weeks in the top 10. EA continues to flex its budget muscle, with FIFA 2004, Need for Speed: Underground and Medal of Honor: Rising Sun hold the seventh, eighth and 10th spots respectively. Vivendi Universal's Simpsons: Hit and Run makes an impressive leap into the gap from last week's 26, thanks to a new budget price point.
Two new entries this week, both performing only moderately well. The Climax-developed Sudeki enters at 25, exclusively for Xbox. Less impressive, the SEGA sequel Headhunter: Redemption manages only 32nd place despite a joint Xbox/PS2 offensive. Interesting, the sales split is unusually close, with PS2 just winning with 53%.
It's been a bountiful week in terms of re-entries. Promotions at retail see Red Dead Revolver re-enter at 20, as does Hitman: Contracts at 30. Codemaster's England International Football 2004 is right behind the bald one, rejoining the fray at 31. Midway Arcade Treasures returns at 36 and Soul Calibur 2 squeezes back into the top 40 at 38.
In addition to Simpsons: Hit and Run, other big movers include Singstar, up from 28 to 16. Heading the other way, Chronicles of Riddick drops out of the top 10, slipping from eight to 17.
MIA this week is Empire's Ghost Master: The Gravenville Chronicles. Available for the PC in May, the title was released on Xbox and PS2 last week. The title is nowhere to be seen in the All Formats charts or the platform specific charts.