COD4 shoots to the top
Charts: Mission accomplished.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare blasted its way to the top of the charts this week thanks in particular to a strong performance on Xbox 360, which accounted for 63 percent of the multi-platform game's weekend sales according to Chart-Track's latest data.
THQ's WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 claimed second place, having launched on six formats including next-generation consoles. However, PlayStation 2 owners accounted for 44 percent of its sales, demonstrating that the console's tail still has some wag to it.
Elsewhere in the top ten, The Simpsons Game held firm at number three thanks in part to the launch of PS3 and PSP SKUs, while last week's top two - Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and EA Sports' FIFA 08 - sank to four and five respectively as sales slowed.
Nintendo once again bucked that trend, however, as both its Brain Training titles rose up the top ten to take sixth (Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training) and seventh (More Brain Training From Dr. Kawashima) ahead of The Sims 2: Castaway (down one place), Ratatouille (down five places to nine) and Microsoft's Halo 3 (down five to ten).
Other new releases fared less well, with Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga struggling to find purchase in a busy week, managing only 17th place, while Sony will likely be disappointed that the critically acclaimed Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction - described by some as the best PS3 game to date - could only find its way to 19th in the All-Formats Chart. Worse still, it could only make it to third on the PS3's own chart, taking up position behind WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 at number two and Call of Duty 4 at one.
Activision's multi-format first-person shooter certainly won the week - thanks to releases on PC, PlayStation 3 and DS - and picked up strong review scores in the run up to launch, including a 9/10 from some jerk. The game marks a return to form for the series after original developer Infinity Ward reassumed control for the fourth instalment.
It recorded the 11th biggest weekly sell-through ever, according to Chart-Track, and is second only to Halo 3 in terms of Xbox 360 titles in that regard.
Whether it will hold on for a second week is hard to say though, as Nintendo (Super Mario Galaxy - Wii), Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed - PS3/360) and EA (Crysis - PC) all make extremely strong claims starting this Friday. Nintendo, in particular, will be expecting an upsurge in hardware sales as it introduces Mario to the Nintendo Wii in his most traditional guise yet - and in a game critics are describing as the spiritual successor to Super Mario 64, one of its most acclaimed games ever. Critics, eh? Lazy basts.