[feisar]

CHART TRACK UK ALL SOFTWARE (ALL PRICES)
WEEK 46 YEAR 2003 ENDING 15TH NOVEMBER

1 FIFA 2004 - EA
2 TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF LA - Activision
3 MARIO KART: DOUBLE DASH!! - Nintendo
4 LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING - EA
5 WWE SMACKDOWN! HERE COMES THE PAIN - THQ
6 THE SIMPSONS: HIT & RUN - Vivendi
7 FINDING NEMO - THQ
8 HARRY POTTER: QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP - EA
9 SSX 3 - EA
10 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 3 - Konami
11 THE SIMS: MAKIN' MAGIC - EA
12 DANCE: UK - Bigben
13 CALL OF DUTY - Activision
14 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2004 - EA
15 EYE TOY: PLAY - Sony
16 POP IDOL - Codemasters
17 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX 3 - Ubisoft
18 HARRY POTTER - CHAMBER OF SECRETS - EA
19 CRASH BANDICOOT - WRATH OF CORTEX - Vivendi
20 NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2004 - Norton
21 COLIN MCRAE RALLY 04 - Codemasters
22 MEDAL OF HONOR: FRONTLINE - EA
23 BROKEN SWORD: THE SLEEPING DRAGON - THQ
24 LORD OF THE RINGS - THE TWO TOWERS - EA
25 CLUB FOOTBALL - Codemasters
26 INTERNATIONAL CUE CLUB - Midas
27 DANCING STAGE PARTY EDITION - Konami
28 CONFLICT: DESERT STORM - SCi
29 RUGBY 2004 - EA
30 POKEMON RUBY - Nintendo
31 FIFA 2003 - EA
32 TIMESPLITTERS 2 - Eidos
33 CONFLICT: DESERT STORM II - SCi
34 DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI 2 - Infogrames
35 POKEMON SAPPHIRE - Nintendo
36 WORMS 3D - Sega
37 TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL - Ubisoft
38 HITMAN 2: SILENT ASSASSIN - Eidos
39 JAMES BOND 007: NIGHTFIRE - EA
40 GRAN TURISMO 3 - Sony

Number 23. Blame the wrongly positioned marketing, blame the invisible packaging, the lack of shelf space, blame the fans who didnt spread the word, but dont blame the game

In Cold Blood managed no7 and no13 in its second week, and that was when it was psx only, BS3 is out on three formats. Escape From Monkey Island manged to go top 10 on its original release and a second time with the PS2 version. Shadow Of Memories was a no4 hit. Broken Sword, Beneath A Steel Sky and Lure Of The Temptress were No1's.

But 23 is no disaster, its higher than the longest journey ever got, I have a feeling its going to be one of those games that has reasonably high sales over a long period rather than a nintendo style no1 then gone the following week.. in terms of sales.

Its no7 in the full price PC chart, no10 on Xbox and no-where to been seen on the PS2 chart.

Also if you only count full price titles then BS3 is no20. Also if you only count THQ games then BS3 is at no3 *desperate*

And finally to add further sour-ness to this years best adventure game:
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=53785


other stuff..

Mario Kart does very well as the highest new entry and is selling a lot more copies that F-Zero GX managed... but sadly didnt take the no1 like nintendo wanted it to..

Pop Idol, the so called dead cert for xmas no1 scrapes in at no16.. and this is its second week on sale.

EA dominate but there is a nice mix of publishers in the charts for once, THQ, Activision and Nintendo doing very well..

Infogrames have only one game in the charts. Which is a bit strange considering the time of year, the size of infogrames and how they up until very recently were second only to EA in the UK in terms of market share.. Eidos must also be worried, okay so they have two games in the charts, but these games are from their christmas line-up last year, are budget so theres less of a profit and every one of eidos christmas games so far this year has sunk without a trace..

[Marek]

Ugh. Broken Sword was released on the 14th. That's 3 days of sales (realistically just two) to add up to the chart. Wait until next week until you draw any conclusions. Better yet, wait a couple of months.

[ragnar]

Originally Posted by feisar

Eidos must also be worried, okay so they have two games in the charts, but these games are from their christmas line-up last year, are budget so theres less of a profit and every one of eidos christmas games so far this year has sunk without a trace..

Eidos have CM 03/04 due to release really soon. That should be a boost for them. On the other hand it is the last CM game that is being made by Sports Interactive.

[amishler]

Originally Posted by Marek

Ugh. Broken Sword was released on the 14th. That's 3 days of sales (realistically just two) to add up to the chart. Wait until next week until you draw any conclusions. Better yet, wait a couple of months.

Ditto. Actually, I think it's pretty impressive that it managed to chart at all, let alone halfway up the chart, given that it was only in stores the last couple days of that reporting week. Plus it seems to be doing well critically, which will hopefully convince people who were on the fence to buy it.

[Henke]

The only chart that counts are the one for PC. 8-)

[feisar]

BS3 only had the fri/sat/sun on sale counting for the charts, but thats all any new release ever has. Most weeks in the UK more games are sold on those three days than the rest of the week added together then doubled.

Also the first three days is when the sales spike normally happens, all the pre-orders go out, the people that are waiting for the game rush out and buy it on day one, but hopefully it will keep/improve its position next week. 23 isnt bad at all for this time of year, just a bit disapointing considering how good it is and the sales of the last games..

[DavidW]

I'm able to give an outsiders point of view, as up until a few minutes ago, I wasn't even aware Broken Sword 3 had been made (I haven't kept up to date on the adventure scene for a while).

I have seen absolutely no ads or promotion for the game, and I haven't seen it in shops. Granted, I obviously haven't gone around looking for it, or kept an eye out for advertisement, but as a consumer unaware of the games existance, I'm guessing they (being whoever 'they' are) haven't made a great job of promoting it. I'm aware of plenty of other games that I have no intention of buying, through ads or having the games on display in store. I LOVED BS1 & 2, so seeing BS3 in shops would have definately caught my attention.

I'll look for the game tomorow, although I'm short on money so can't buy it. I've read up a bit on it, and it seems like a great game. I'm definately more of a point & click player (I love the addictiveness & simplicity of them, and the way you couldn't get to the backgrounds, which intruiged me), but I'll give BS3 a go. One of my main gripes with 3D games was the fact I preffered the 2D layout with great looking backgrounds (ala MI3) over the dodgy looking 3D games. Looking at BS3 screenshots, it seems like the 3D graphics are finally advanced enough to justify dumping the 2D engine.

[Garyos]

And where's Uru? I thought a new Myst game would at least make a small dent in the chart....

[Tanukitsune]

FIFA Nº1

[twifkak]

Well, the comments page produced a laugh:

Originally Posted by ralphwolfenstein

Oh well... If someone told you last week that Eurogamer would review both SmackDown 5 and this, and that one would score 9 and one score 6...

[remixor]

Originally Posted by DavidW

I'm able to give an outsiders point of view, as up until a few minutes ago, I wasn't even aware Broken Sword 3 had been made (I haven't kept up to date on the adventure scene for a while).

I have seen absolutely no ads or promotion for the game, and I haven't seen it in shops. Granted, I obviously haven't gone around looking for it, or kept an eye out for advertisement, but as a consumer unaware of the games existance, I'm guessing they (being whoever 'they' are) haven't made a great job of promoting it. I'm aware of plenty of other games that I have no intention of buying, through ads or having the games on display in store. I LOVED BS1 & 2, so seeing BS3 in shops would have definately caught my attention.

I'll look for the game tomorow, although I'm short on money so can't buy it. I've read up a bit on it, and it seems like a great game. I'm definately more of a point & click player (I love the addictiveness & simplicity of them, and the way you couldn't get to the backgrounds, which intruiged me), but I'll give BS3 a go. One of my main gripes with 3D games was the fact I preffered the 2D layout with great looking backgrounds (ala MI3) over the dodgy looking 3D games. Looking at BS3 screenshots, it seems like the 3D graphics are finally advanced enough to justify dumping the 2D engine.

This is what I'm talking about! I've been predicting this for ages! Damnit, damnit, damnit! Any game that doesn't fit into the current popular paradigms MUST be aggressively marketed so people actually pay attention. BS3 is no exception. I've pretty much given up all expectation of BS3 attracting the attention of the games industry as a whole. I can only hope it becomes a sleeper hit over time, which wouldn't surprise me at all.

[James]

this will be a slow burner, but i also expect sales up next week, given a full week. uru out on the same day - hard call to make, and a pity as well, as both deserve the limelight.

[theneb]

Week Ending 15th of Nov.
So basically that's BS3 selling within 2 days.
It's number 7 on PC & XBOX, PS2 is dragging it down.

[Marek]

Originally Posted by remixor

This is what I'm talking about! I've been predicting this for ages! Damnit, damnit, damnit! Any game that doesn't fit into the current popular paradigms MUST be aggressively marketed so people actually pay attention. BS3 is no exception. I've pretty much given up all expectation of BS3 attracting the attention of the games industry as a whole. I can only hope it becomes a sleeper hit over time, which wouldn't surprise me at all.

So far I've actually been impressed with the amount of marketing its getting in Europe. I mean, there's BS3 ads on TV and in cinemas.

[feisar]

Originally Posted by theneb

Week Ending 15th of Nov.
So basically that's BS3 selling within 2 days.
It's number 7 on PC & XBOX, PS2 is dragging it down.

Its actually three days.

And the sales on PS2 are probably about the same, only due to a lower installed base a number 7 selling Xbox game sells less than a no21+ PS2 game. Chart Track only publish the top 20 selling PS2 full price and then the top 20 budget PS2 games.

As an example Star Wars: Rouge Leader 3 is no2 in the gamecube chart but not in the top 40 all formats. Pop Idol is no10 in the PS2 chart and is number 16 in the all formats. PS2 = sells more games so in theory BS3 could be selling more on PS2 than any other format but isnt in the PS2 chart :S

[nordic_guy]

Hopefully it'll stay stable on the list and sell a fair amont of copies anyway. It might even climb.

[remixor]

Originally Posted by Marek

So far I've actually been impressed with the amount of marketing its getting in Europe. I mean, there's BS3 ads on TV and in cinemas.

Yes, but I don't live in Europe. I live in the United States, where I literally have not seen a single physical ad for it anywhere, and the people in the game shops haven't a clue what I'm talking about or if they'll ever get it in.

[RemiO]

Originally Posted by remixor

Yes, but I don't live in Europe. I live in the United States, where I literally have not seen a single physical ad for it anywhere, and the people in the game shops haven't a clue what I'm talking about or if they'll ever get it in.

There has been some magazine advertisement. I saw a one page ad in the official Xbox magazine, and I'd assume the same ad would surface in other mags.

[davez82]

yah eb games.com doesnt even have it on their front page or even pc section, you have to search for it.

[Helen]

I havent seen anything for it anywhere, console or PC.