UK Charts: Three weeks in a row for Potter

Neither Pandora Tomorrow nor Red Dead Revolver could unseat Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban at the top of the UK software chart, as EA made it three weeks in a row at number one with its fifth chart topper of the calendar.

Last Friday's belated arrival of the PS2 version of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow helped catapult the Ubisoft title up from No.33 to No.2 (No.2 PS2, No.6 Xbox, No.15 GBA, No.11 PC), but Chart-Track is reporting that the title sold just half the number of units in the PS2's first weekend on sale in comparison to the Xbox.

Meanwhile, in an unusually busy summer week, there were two other big new entries. Rockstar's long-overdue Wild West shooter Red Dead Revolver debuted at No.3 (No.4 PS2, No.1 Xbox), while Eidos/Ion Storm's hide and sneak classic Thief: Deadly Shadows crept into No.7 (No.2 Xbox, No.5 PC).

In other new release news, SCi Games and Confounding Factor will be devastated to learn that Galleon - over seven years in production - managed to miss the All Formats Top 40. The swashbuckling adventure limped in at No.36 in the All Formats Full Price chart, and just No.7 in the Xbox listings. SCi will be hoping that the title picks up over the summer, but critical reaction has been middling, and its prospects are now looking somewhat bleak. Less surprising was the non appearance of Phantasy Star Online Episode 3 C.A.R.D, which managed a very poor No.6 on the GameCube chart.

Elsewhere inside the Top 10, EA's UEFA Euro 2004 dropped two places to No.4, Need For Speed: Underground slipped three places to No.6, Pro Evolution Soccer held firm at No.8 while Hitman Contracts slid by five places to No.9. The remaining places were taken up by McAfee Internet Security V6 (No.5), and Norton Internet Security 2004 (No.10), proving - if nothing else - that there are a hell of lot of PC owners out there not buying games.

Outside the Top 10, it's still a surprise to see Singstar's (No.14, No.6 PS2) relative failure, while the middling performance of GT4: Prologue (No.11) isn't perhaps a big surprise with the full game apparently five months away. Last week's new entry Smash Court Tennis 2 remained at No.22 (No.9 PS2), while Nintendo's big summer saviour Pokemon Colosseum crashed 12 places to No.19 (No.1 GameCube).

Other recent releases are all very much in reverse gear already, with Midway's The Suffering down nine places to No.20 (No.13 PS2, No.9 Xbox), Fight Night down to No.18 (No.12 PS2, No.15 Xbox), Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition slipped seven places to No.21 (No.3 PS2 budget), Transformers dropped 14 places to No.31 (No.11 PS2), while Ninja Gaiden dropped 21 places to No.37 (No.4 Xbox).

Three titles re-entered the charts this week, headed up by THQ's Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain (No.28), followed by Medal Of Honor: Frontline (No.38), and The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (No.39), all top performers in the PS2 budget chart.

Next week is likely to see the arrival of Empire's hotly tipped Mashed, Activision's film tie-in Shrek 2 and Nintendo's long-overdue GameCube-exclusive Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour - a game available overseas since the end of last year.