Endless Ocean, Crystal Chronicles Fail to Crack UK Top 40

Last Friday saw the release of two very big-name Wii titles in the UK, Endless Ocean 2 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Unfortunately neither of these were able to break into either the All Formats Top 40 list or the Individual Formats Top 40. The Arika-developed and Nintendo-published underwater adventure, Endless Ocean: Adventures of the Deep (which Cubed3 reviewed here) did do considerably better than Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, though, landing at No.11 on the Wii-specific Top 40, whilst the experimental departure from the standard Crystal Chronicles formula has followed in the footsteps of other territories, failing to perform anywhere near as well as a game from the Final Fantasy line should do, entering at a lowly placing of No.17 - a far cry from how well the GameCube version did when EA published it and helped it into the All Format Top 5. In Japan it has struggled to sell more than 50,000 units in total so far and in the US it sold less than 25,000 units in its first month. The fact that it has started better than the low budget Wii version of Echoes of Time is hardly anything to boast about, more a small point of concilation.

Elsewhere on the Wii Top 40, James Cameron's Avatar: The Game holds strong at No.5, and is now selling on a par with the PS3 and 360 versions, whilst FIFA 10 jumps four to No.6. Call of Duty 4 has been suspiciously absent from the chart over the past month, with Cubed3 speculating there were stock issues. Clearly it was indeed the case as the Wii version of Modern Warfare is back with a bang, zooming back in at No.8, with the next main title being Endless Ocean 2 in at No.11, with a disappointing second week for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, falling seven to No.13 despite plenty of online hype. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles falls another six to No.18, Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 is up two to No.26, Call of Duty fever continues with World at War jumping seven to No.31 and Super Mario Galaxy holds steady at No.32.

On the DS Top 40, there is a new entry for yet another 'seek and find' game, this time in the form of Titanic Mystery from Purple Hills Entertainment, entering at No.10. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars moves up a spot to No.25, there is a new entry for Disney's The Princess and the Frog at No.27 and Super Mario 64 DS continues its climb back up the chart, nudging up four to No.29.

Below is the official Chart-Track blurb on the All Format Top 40, with the Top 20 for both the All Formats and Individual Formats lists under that:

Mass Effect 2 tops an unchanged Top 3 this week, despite a sales drop of 64% putting it within touching distance of Just Dance (-26%) at No2. Ubisoft's dancing game was only 850 sales away from regaining No1, but still remains ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (-12%) which just holds on to No3 in the face of competition from EA's new release Dante's Inferno, debuting at No4. EA's new IP is only a tiny number of sales away from dislodging Call of Duty at No3, but EA can claim 3 games in the Top 5 as FIFA 10 (+26%) jumps 2 places to No5. The rest of the All Formats Top 10 shuffle places amongst themselves with Nintendo's highest charting title Wii Sports Resort (-18%) down one place to No6, ahead of Sony's PS3-exclusive MAG (-46%) down 3 places to No7, in its second week of release. Nintendo still manage 3 games in the Top 10 as New Super Mario Bros. Wii (-14%) holds on to No8 while Wii Fit Plus (-36%) shows signs of flagging, down 3 places to No9. James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (-12%) rounds off the Top 10, a non-mover at No10 with FIFA 10 the only Top 10 game to gain sales this week. Atari/Namco Bandai Games fail to break into the Top 10 as Star Trek Online beams in at No11, ahead of new releases from THQ with MX Vs ATV Reflex at No18 and EA with the latest Sims add-on The Sims 3: Design & High Tech Stuff at No20.

TOP 20 ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE - INDIVIDUAL FORMATS (UNITS), WEEK ENDING 6 February 2010
1.) (2) JUST DANCE (WII, UBISOFT)
2.) (1) MASS EFFECT 2 (360, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
3.) (4) WII SPORTS RESORT (WII, NINTENDO)
4.) (3) MAG (PS3, SONY COMPUTER ENT.)
5.) (NEW) DANTE'S INFERNO (360, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
6.) (NEW) DANTE'S INFERNO (PS3, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
7.) (6) CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 (360, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
8.) (8) CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 (PS3, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
9.) (9) NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII (WII, NINTENDO)
10.) (5) WII FIT PLUS (WII, NINTENDO)
11.) (NEW) STAR TREK ONLINE (PC, NAMCO BANDAI GAMES)
12.) (10) MARIO KART WII (WII, NINTENDO)
13.) (11) FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 (360, MICROSOFT)
14.) (20) FIFA 10 (360, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
15.) (19) FIFA 10 (PS3, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
16.) (NEW) THE SIMS 3: DESIGN & HIGH-TECH STUFF (PC, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
17.) (13) FOOTBALL MANAGER 2010 (PC, SEGA)
18.) (16) UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES (PS3, SONY COMPUTER ENT.)
19.) (18) NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. (DS, NINTENDO)
20.) (14) WII PLAY (WII, NINTENDO)

All the latest charts can be found over at Chart Track UK.

Are you surprised to see Square Enix's big Wii release fall flat on its face in Week One? Does Endless Ocean 2 deserve to debut higher up the chart?