UK Chart Highlights | Nintendo Grabs No.1 Christmas Seller, Wii Breaks New Record

A company other than EA has done the unthinkable and now taken Christmas No.1 spot, at long last, breaking a run that has been going since 2003. But, of course, there are technically various 'No.1's available to claim, one of which Activision has taken and the other main accolade going to none other than Nintendo! Whilst Call of Duty on all formats claims the mantel of All Formats No.1, with sales up an astronomic 53%, lifting it 35,000 units above the No.2 game (Assassin's Creed, itself up a stunning 92% thanks to retailer promotions), in sheer unit sales alone, Nintendo not only claimed No.1, but No.2 and 3 as well! More Brain Training (DS), Brain Training (DS) and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) took the top slots, ahead of Call of Duty 4 on Xbox 360. So despite the multi-platform game grabbing the top spot overall, Nintendo must be applauded for the single format victories it has achieved this Christmas...

So just how well did those Brain Training games fare on the All Formats, All Prices Top 40 then? Well, More Brain Training shot up 67% in sales, rising from No.9 to No.6, whilst Brain Training rose 23%, yet dipped two to No.8 due to the strong multi-format games sales. Positions five through to eight were only separated by a measly 2,000 sales! Amazingly close this week. Wii Play jumps back up seven places to make it back into the top ten at No.10, with a fantastic 148% increase in numbers sold, which ties in with the Wii hardware selling the most in a seven-day period than it has ever done before! Elsewhere on the budget Nintendo front, Cooking Mama dips two to No.17, Sight Training shoots back up eight to No.20, Big Brain Wii is down five to No.24, BBA DS falls three to No.33 and Deal or No Deal on DS holds at No.40.

The Full Price-only Top 40 sees Mario & Sonic de-throned after two weeks at No.1, falling 9% in sales and dropping to No.7 as Call of Duty skips up a spot to the top and Assassin's Creed slaughters the rest of the pack, leaping five to No.2 thanks to special retailer deals. Simpsons is up two to No.3 (+31%), FIFA dips one to No.4 (+8%), Need for Speed is down one to No.5 (+12%), WWE holds at No.6 (+36%), Golden Compass up two to No.8, Guitar Hero back up two to No.9 and PES 2008 down two to No.10. Outside this, Mario Galaxy slips two to No.11, Mario Party 8 is up one to No.12, New Super Mario Bros. bounces back up four to No.14, Tomb Raider Anniversary is helped up two to No.21 by the Wii version, and Phantom Hourglass surges back up ten to No.23 due to the DS craze right now. The PS3 edition of The Orange Box can only help the game back up five to No.24, Super Paper Mario makes a surprise charge back up from No.39 to No.25, Bee Movie is new at No.28, MySims is down four to No.29 and Christmas pleaser from EA, Smarty Pants on Wii, re-enters at No.31. Rounding things off, Mario Kart DS is up two to No.32, Umbrella Chronicles lumbers back up three to No.33, Mass Effect continues to fail to meet expectations, falling a further eight to No.36, WarioWare Wii is back at No.38, Dogz 2 returns at No.39 and Lab & Friends slips back in at No.40.

Lower stock of Brain Training meant that its younger brother now claims the DS Top 30's No.1 slot, pushing the original down to No.2, with Mario up one to No.3 and Sight Training showing good strength, back up two places to No.4 as Cooking Mama falls two to No.5. Zelda is back up four to No.7, Deal or No Deal actually goes back up two to No.10, showing that good old Noel's mug on the box is helping this poor man's version of the game show (it is not helping Telly Addicts, though, which has yet to chart...) and the woeful Golden Compass leaps from No.20 to No.11, with the American English 'My Word Coach' up one to No.13...there are going to be so many British children being taught not only the US English spellings of words, but also the wrong meanings (a 'trigger' is not always the start of something bad...The game's definitions are not 100% correct and it is teaching people poor spelling