Need for Speed Holds Back 360 Onslaught

Low Xbox 360 shipment numbers mean that the console's exclusive titles are held back from the Top 10 - for now.

This weekend's launch of the Xbox 360 would surely have had a much bigger effect on the weekly sales chart if Microsoft had been able to have more than just 75,000 consoles available on launch day.

As it is, though, the majority of the launch games made it onto the charts, and it was the bump given to EA's Need for Speed: Most Wanted that turned out to be all that was needed to keep the game on top for another week.

Ten of the 15 games that hit stores alongside the Xbox 360 on 2 December made it into Chart Track's Top 40 list. While several of the games, including all of EA's launch titles, were simply prettier versions of games already out there, console-exclusives such as Perfect Dark Zero (which finished at No. 12), Project Gotham Racing 3 (16) and Sega's Condemned: Criminal Origins (36) also managed to sneak into the ranking.

The big challenge now is for Microsoft to ensure that new Xbox 360s make it into stores as promised, otherwise the console will lose momentum going into the all-important Christmas season.

The inundation of Xbox 360 games seems to have claimed a victim too, as Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones looks like it may get lost in the Christmas shuffle, much like the original Prince Of Persia did two years ago.

Below are the top 10 games in the UK for the week ending 3 December, as determined by Chart Track:

1. Need for Speed: Most Wanted (EA)
2. Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Konami)
3. FIFA 06 (EA)
4. Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire (EA)
5. 50 Cent: Bulletproof (VU Games)
6. Call Of Duty 2: Big Red One (Activision)
7. Star Wars: Battlefront II (Activision)
8. King Kong (Ubisoft)
9. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar)
10. WWE SmackDown! Vs Raw 2006 (THQ)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games