UK Charts: Straight eight for NFSU2
EA hold the top spot as Underground 2 cleans up yet again.
Need For Speed Underground 2 maintained a vice-like grip on the UK's No.1 spot this morning, as Electronic Arts' street racing title shook off all comers for an eighth straight week.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reclaimed the No.1 slot in the PS2 chart, but it evidently wasn't enough to displace the EA-published title, which now also sits at No.2 in the PS2 and Xbox charts, No.8 in the Cube chart and No.10 in the PC chart. Incredibly, Vivendi's Simpsons: Hit & Run moved up to No.3, suggesting that another Simpsons title this year would be a license to print money for VU. Even 2001's Simpsons Road Rage is sitting pretty at No.30 if you need further proof of the public thirst for Homer and co.
In the rest of the Top 10, there was little movement of note, with FIFA 2005 down one to No.4, The Incredibles stationary at No.5, Pro Evo 4 up one to No.6, Prince Of Persia Warrior Within down one to No.7, Football Manager 2005 up two to No.8, Call Of Duty Finest Hour a non mover at No.9 and Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age down two to No.10.
Outside of the all-important Top 10, again, movement in the charts was remarkable only by its absence, although the new year sales have kicked Half-Life 2 back up seven places to No.14, Halo 2 rocket jumps 23 places to No.15, Killzone moves up six to No.21, while the roundly dismissed Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude makes a long delayed entry into the listings at No.36, no doubt boosted by the January sales activity.
None of this year's new releases have thus far made it into the main chart, and that includes the likes of Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords (which nevertheless sits at the very top of the GameCube chart [and is the besterest thing to do with two or three other people since - ooh, what can my innocent little mind dream up? - JENGA -Tom]), the second wave of Classic NES Series titles, Take Two's Robotech Invasion on PS2 and Xbox, and Ubisoft's CSI title on Xbox. What we'd give for a title of the magnitude of Resident Evil 4, eh?
Next week is likely to be much the same story, with rapidly declining week-on-week sales and little of note on the new release front to trouble the current dominators. A good time to investigate import purchases and cheap sale opportunities...