Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide.
This week's charts, with data taken from July 29th, 2010, find Starcraft II heading cross-platform sales in the United States and Europe, while Capcom's Sengoku Basara 3 comes out on top in Japan.
Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy of the public sales information on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded. This results in a true sense of what games are selling worldwide on the real-time updated service, as follows:
Nintendo Wii North America: 1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo), 3. Just Dance (Ubisoft), 4. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo), 5. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros.)
Japan: 1. Wii Party (Nintendo), 2. Sengoku Basara 3 (Capcom), 3. Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory (Square Enix), 4. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo), 5. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo).
UK: 1. Just Dance (Ubisoft), 2. Dance on Broadway (Ubisoft), 3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo), 4. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros.), 5. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo).
Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii continue to lead the Wii sales charts in North America for the third week in a row. Neither title appears to be in danger of dropping out of the domestic top five anytime soon.
Capcom's Sengoku Basara 3 goes up against Nintendo's Wii Party in Japan, pushing Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory to third place. Just Dance leads in the UK, with Ubisoft's Dance on Broadway taking second place.
Xbox 360 North America: 1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision), 2. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar), 3. Mass Effect 2 (EA Games), 4. NCAA Football 11 (EA Sports), 5. 2010 FIFA World Cup (EA Sports).
Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier Online: Beginner's Package (Capcom), 2. Strike Witches: Special Edition (Cyber Front), 3. Memories Off: Yubikiri no Kioku -- Limited Edition (5pb), 4. Ninety-Nine Nights II (Konami), 5. Memories Off: Yubikiri no Kioku (5pb).
UK: 1. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar), 2. Alan Wake (Microsoft), 3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision), 4. BioShock 2 (2K Games), 5. Mass Effect 2 (EA Games).
Modern Warfare 2 steals the top sales spot from Red Dead Redemption in North America this week, while Mass Effect 2 returns to the top five ahead of EA's NCAA Football 11.
In Japan, Cyber Front's shoot-'em-up Strike Witches takes second place in platform sales, as 5pb's visual novel port Memories Off: Yubikiri no Kioku claims two chart spots in its premiere week.
PlayStation 3 North America: 1. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar), 2. Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix), 3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision), 4. God of War III (SCEA), 5. NCAA Football 11 (EA Sports).
Japan: 1. Sengoku Basara 3 (Capcom), 2. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2010 (Konami), 3. Shirokishi Monogatari: Hikari to Yami no Kakusei (SCEI), 4. Totori no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi 2 (Gust), 5. Super Street Fighter IV (Capcom).
UK: 1. BioShock 2 (2K Games), 2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision), 3. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar), 4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA Games), 5. Just Cause 2 (Square Enix).
Red Dead Redemption fends off competition from a recently-discounted Final Fantasy XIII this week, as God of War III overtakes NCAA Football 11 for fourth place.
Capcom's Sengoku Basara 3 captures the top multiplatform chart spot in Japan in its debut week, dropping Konami's baseball sim Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2010 and the White Knight Chronicles sequel Shirokishi Monogatari: Hikari to Yami no Kakusei to second and third place.
PC North America: 1. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (Blizzard), 2. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - Collector's Edition (Blizzard), 3. Starcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard), 4. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard), 5. World of Warcraft (Blizzard).
Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 7.0 Premium Package (Capcom), 2. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 6.0 Premium Package (Capcom), 3. Ragnarok Online RJC2010: Next Generation's Hero Vol. 2 (E Frontier), 4. Ragnarok Online RJC2010: Memorial Package (E Frontier), 5. The Sims 3 (EA Games).
UK: 1. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (Blizzard), 2. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - Collector's Edition (Blizzard), 3. The Sims 3: Ambitions (EA Games), 4. Football Manager 2010 (Sega), 5. The Sims 3 (EA Games).
Starcraft II debuts as this week's top-selling PC game in North America and the UK, and currently leads as the biggest-selling software title across all platforms in both regions.
The $100 Collector's Edition of Starcraft II also sees impressive sales in the U.S. and Europe, as the Starcraft Battle Chest compilation, World of Warcraft, and the World of Warcraft expansion The Burning Crusade get a chart boost stateside in the wake of Blizzard's latest release.
Nintendo DS North America: 1. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 2. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo), 3. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 4. Toy Story 3 (Disney), 5. Puzzler World (Atari).
Japan: 1. Metal Max 3 (Kadokawa Shoten), 2. Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu (Nintendo), 3. Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride Card Battle Taisen (Namco Bandai), 4. Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side 3rd Story (Konami), 5. Wizardry: Boukyaku no Isan (Genterprise).
UK: 1. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (Nintendo), 4. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros.), 5. Jam with the Band (Nintendo).
Mario Kart DS reclaims its sales lead in North America this week, ending Dragon Quest IX's two-week reign as the Nintendo DS's biggest-selling software title.
Kadokawa Shoten's debuting Metal Max 3 takes first place in Japanese sales, meanwhile, pushing last week's sales leader Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu to second place.
PlayStation Portable North America: 1. Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (Atlus), 4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 5. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Konami).
Japan: 1. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd - Limited Edition (Sega), 2. Fate/Extra: Limited Edition (Marvelous), 3. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd (Sega), 4. Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga (Falcom), 5. Fate/Extra (Marvelous).
UK: 1. LittleBigPlanet (SCEE), 2. FIFA 10 (EA Sports), 3. Gran Turismo (SCEE), 4. Toy Story 3 (Disney), 5. Gran Turismo (SCEE).
Dissidia Final Fantasy leads domestic PSP sales this week following an Amazon "Deal of the Day" price drop. God of War: Chains of Olympus follows at second place, as Persona 3 Portable returns to the top five at third.
Sega's rhythm game Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd debuts as this week's top seller in Japan, beating out Falcom's crossover action-RPG Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga and Marvelous's Fate/Extra.
Starcraft II - yet another top-selling, im certain award winning, title from the Blizzard gods. Now wait until Diablo III and watch the market spike again.
If only others could put so much passion into their sequels and release a GAME; not a "model" or [insert acronym here]MMO-hybrid.
If only others could put so much passion into their sequels and release a GAME; not a "model" or [insert acronym here]MMO-hybrid.