UK Charts: EA Bonded to the top
Do you expect me to go to the top of the charts?
EA resumed its reign at the top of the chart this week, with the US giant's James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing making its debut at the top of the UK All Format chart in its first week on sale, as well as claiming top slot in the PS2, Xbox and GameCube chart.
Consequently, Square Enix's Final Fantasy X-2 drops to No.2 after just one week at the top, while Sega's Sonic Heroes drops another place to No.3. Norton Internet Security moved up a further place to No.4, while Need For Speed: Underground dropped to No.5.
Elsewhere in the chart, Empire enjoyed the second highest new entry at No.25 with its TV advertised Bad Boys II (No.14 PS2, No.15 Xbox), while Ubisoft's critically revered title Beyond Good & Evil made a long overdue entry into the UK All Formats at No.36, on the back of its Xbox and GameCube release where it made No.9 and No.6 respectively. Talking of Ubi, its even more impressive Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time moved up a further place to No.7, with the Xbox version moving up to No.2, while the Cube version remains at No.3.
In what resembles a fairly lively chart for once, Disney saw Finding Nemo shoot back up to No.11 on the back of the DVD release, while Midway scored the surprise hit of the year with its Arcade Treasures compilation, which moved up 12 places to No.16 on the All Formats, and up to No.1 on the budget chart (although curiously only No.5 on the PS2 budget chart according to ChartTrack), proving that there's life in your old back catalogue at the right price.
Less impressively, THQ chalked up a quiet start for its Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, which debuted at a lowly No.31 in the Full Price Top 40, while Namco won't be too happy with the No.39 appearance of Kill.switch in the same listing.
But there were plenty of others in the MIA category this week, with Sega's Puyo Pop Fever and Sonic Battle (No.6, GBA), and LucasArts' Armed & Dangerous and Wrath Unleashed nowhere to be seen, while Acclaim's Urban Freestyle Soccer also failed to excite gamers. Eidos will also be desperately disappointed to see Whiplash fail to dent the chart, but it's hardly unexpected either in this difficult to penetrate chart. Savage also sank without trace, but Gangland made a No.20 appearance on the PC chart, despite not actually featuring a save game option.
Unsurprisingly, neither the Xbox nor Cube featured a single game in either All Formats Top 40. Similarly unsurprisingly, all 20 of the PS2 full price titles feature in the Top 40, although the format features just two bona-fide exclusives in FFX-2 and EyeToy: Play, with its charts crammed full of multi-platform titles.
Next week's chart should see the appearance of Deus Ex: Invisible War, Cricket 2004 and SpyHunter 2 (slippage permitting), which means there's unlikely to be much change near the very top.