CoD: World at War tops UK charts for fifth week

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Dec 16th 2008 at 9:40AM }

Call of Duty: World at War (CoD:W@W for the more efficient among you) has defended its number one position on the all-format UK game sales charts, extending its reign to a fifth consecutive week despite heavy holiday competition. Mario Kart Wii took the second spot, followed by FIFA '09 and, still quite bizarrely, Need for Speed: Undercover. Oh, but wait until we tell you what's in the fifth spot. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training. Remember that one?

Further down the charts, Ubisoft's cel-shaded scurrier, Prince of Persia, climbed to the 20th position while Sonic Unleashed went from 33rd to 12th. We'll let that sink in for a few moments.

Tags: Activision, Call-of-Duty-World-at-War, Fifa-09, FPS, Mario-Kart-Wii, Prince-of-Persia, Sonic-Unleashed, Treyarch, UK, UK-charts

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

samfish @ Dec 16th 2008 9:46AM

Meanwhile, LBP sold less that 350,000 copies Dead Space is less than 500,000 across 3 consoles and poor Valkria Chronicles didn't even sell 50,000 copies.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll even own a videogame console next generation.

Antagonist @ Dec 16th 2008 9:55AM

"Dead Space is less than 500,000 across 3 consoles"

Is this one of those weird things where we count the PC as a console, because I think you may be a bit confused.

turkeybaster @ Dec 16th 2008 10:02AM

I think game companies have been looking for the casual market for years, and now that they've done it, the hardcore market is suffering.

samfish @ Dec 16th 2008 10:08AM

That doesn't explain why the 'hardcore' market is ignoring all the games made for them that don't involve military people blowing shit up.

el serpiente @ Dec 16th 2008 10:19AM

umm, valkirya chronicles is about the military and blowing shit up...

turkeybaster @ Dec 16th 2008 10:22AM

Well maybe the new "hardcore" is casual hardcore. Call of Duty and Halo are pretty socially acceptable and easy to pick up and play, whereas Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, and LBP will get you funny looks. Now that Activision is releasing sequels on a yearly (or sub-yearly) basis, fps and guitar games are the new sports games maybe?

Mr Khan @ Dec 16th 2008 10:29AM

slightly outdated data, perhaps? LBP broke a million, last i heard. As did Wii Music. Dead Space is at a million if you compile everything, but around 500k for the two consoles (i couldn't find PC data)

samfish @ Dec 16th 2008 10:40AM

Only VG Chartz thinks LBP is over a million. I still think it'll get there eventually, but not yet. It's probably around 750,000 worldwide.
As for Dead Space, there's no WAY it's at a million copies. Last I read about a week ago, it was

WRE @ Dec 16th 2008 10:46AM

Don't blame me, I voted for Kang.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 16th 2008 10:56AM

CHILDREN, WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED TODAY??

The general public would rather spend money on another Fps game then something else.

CAUSE PLAYING THEM SHOOTAN GAEMS MEANS I'M HARDCORE!!! FUCK THEM CASUAL GAMES!!!!

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 16th 2008 11:05AM

@Turkey

I really want to beat you senseless for your stupidity. Like I said in the previous thread where we were wondering why certain games were doing poorly:

CASUAL GAMING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!! This is another example of the public buying something from a familiar franchise. Is it any surprise that CoD:WaW did well, considering the fact that it's associated with CoD: Modern Combat? This is not anything new, and there is no new "casual hardcore" (and I'm really getting tired of people labeling anything and everything casual. Stop it. It makes you look stupid). There has always been three groups of gamers: Casual, mainstream, and hardcore. This happens every year, the mainstream goes for the franchises they are familiar with (like Halo, Gears of War, and GTA). They don't give a shit about games we hype about here, they only care about games that are the most popular these days. And those are the titles they buy.

KingOfGods @ Dec 16th 2008 12:53PM

I think it's more than familiar franchises. I buy a lot of games, but I know for me and a group of my Xbox Live buddies, we never have a problem dropping $60 on games that have good multiplayer that will hold us there for months on end....like Call of Duty.

It's difficult to purchase a game for $60 that I may play for 2 days complete and never play again. I live in NYC and gamestop out here gives only $15 for trade-ins no matter how new the game is.
I occasionally purchase single player games if it is something that I must play day one. Most of the time...and this goes for the group of people on my friends list, we wait till they are discounted to get them or use game fly.

343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 16th 2008 1:00PM

If it makes you feel any better Samfish, I just bought Valkyria Chronicles and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Strategy_Panda (The Sandwich Poisoning Crew) @ Dec 16th 2008 4:06PM

KingofGods has a point, a lot of it has to do with the legs a game has.

Whenever I make a game purchase, I always try to factor in how long I think my gameplay will last, or how compelling a single playthrough will be.

VC and LBP met my criteria. Dead Space (and Mirror's Edge) did not, and I'm sure thats true for a lot of people. I'm sure a lot of people will play/played the games by renting them or waiting for them to get discounted, but as it was said above, spending $60 on a game that will be over in about two days is kind of streatch.

I like that EA produced two great new franchises but its hard to actually justify buying those games at full price.

turkeybaster @ Dec 16th 2008 6:06PM

@ Vegeta:

It's called IDLE SPECULATION. If I want to meditate on the reasons for some excellent games underperforming I had damned well better be able to do it on a videogame comment board without fucking douchebags saying they want to kick my ass. What the fuck is your problem?

soviet chick @ Dec 16th 2008 9:53AM

Prince of Persia, in 20th?!? I know it isn't exactly the Next-Gen Sands of Time we had been hoping for, but it's still an amazingly satisfying game. I'm baffled.

Perhaps they should have released it alongside Beyond Good & Evil 2...

JoeTheBlow @ Dec 16th 2008 10:06AM

Where are they getting these numbers?
GAF has the OFFICIAL charts, and they look quite different.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=345549

LBP has stormed up to No.1 PS3 sales, no.6 combined all formats, and has easily topped a million.
Stop focusing on the increasingly outdated (no online sales?!) NPD numbers, the rest of the world buys games too.

JoeTheBlow @ Dec 16th 2008 10:12AM

The proper, official link:
http://www.charttrack.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p/software/uk/archive/index_test.jsp&ct=110032&arch=t&lyr=2008&year=2008&week=50

I have no idea where that MCV list is coming from, and it looks little different than their previous weeks.
Maybe i'm missing something here.

soviet chick @ Dec 16th 2008 10:23AM

http://www.charttrack.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p/software/uk/latest/index_test.jsp&ct=110015

All Formats

copa @ Dec 16th 2008 10:10AM

Announcer (whispering): We switched an Infinity Ward title with a Treyarch title to see if these British citizens could tell the difference.

Brit 1: This is bloody good!

Brit 2: Cheerio!

Brit 1: Do you think they'll release another Call Of Duty next year? I'm hoping for more World War II!

Brit 2: Right you are! God save the Queen!

Ciaran @ Dec 16th 2008 10:22AM

You DO realise British people don't talk like that? Well the vast majority don't.

copa @ Dec 16th 2008 10:28AM

Of course they, do. I live down here in Texas, and this is an actual transcript from my gaming session last night:

xFenixKnightx: Yeehaw! I got me this here Hammer of Dawn, and them varmints are runnin' away faster than an armadiller ridin' shotgun in a Tahoe!

copa: You tell 'em, pardner! Seeing you do the roadie run like that makes me want to lasso you and mount ya like a filly!

xFenixKnightx: Now, it's time to haul these critters down to the OK corr... wait, what?

xGeneral DEATHx (Mr ESC Welcome Back Party Ultimate Mega Action Force) @ Dec 16th 2008 10:35AM

Copa...you win for the day, Sir. +1

xFenixKnightx @ Dec 16th 2008 10:46AM

:O LMAO!!!

Obie @ Dec 16th 2008 11:22AM

Pip, pip, hooray! Huzzah and all that!

Megadanxzero @ Dec 16th 2008 10:17AM

while Sonic Unleashed went from 33rd to 12th. We'll let that sink in for a few moments.

Aaah, good, it's a bloody good game. Places like IGN and Gamespot that gave it 4.8 and 3.5 are fucking insane...

Mr Khan @ Dec 16th 2008 11:23AM

Agree. The running stages captured the excellence of Secret Rings, but with somewhat better level design. The werehog stages were very simple as brawlers, but were effective in their simplicity

Megadanxzero @ Dec 16th 2008 11:49AM

The funniest thing is, even my friend who hates Sonic and has never liked a Sonic game before in his life likes Sonic Unleashed, even the Werehog levels, and actually borrowed and played it quite a bit. It just seems to have become cool for reviewers to rip on Sonic, even if gamers don't actually agree...

xFenixKnightx @ Dec 16th 2008 10:52AM

I'm not surprised. CoD:WaW is a DAMN good game! Really fun too! To me, Treyarch has proven themselves here. Anyone who sais Treyarch just copy and pasted COD4 hasn't really played COD:WaW then. The campaign is incredible. Oh and yes Nazi Zombie mode is SICK!!! Hopefully Treyarch gives us some more maps for it. Activision has 2 great studios at work for them on a great franchise. Smart bastards.

Dirty @ Dec 16th 2008 12:13PM

Your avatar is just a black box btw.

I still think that COD4 is a better overall experience, but I agree that its not copy and pasted. Haven't gotten to zombie mode yet, Im still in the campaign and am stuck with a brand new puppy that wont let me play video games.