World Cup Fever Spreads to UK Chart

And there's a good opening week for Nintendo's new Brain Training game too.

Did you really think it would turn out any differently? With a quarter of the world (or something like that) tuning in to watch the World Cup, the fever was in the air, and that fever took people in to stores to buy EA's official World Cup tie-in game. But it wasn't the overwhelming response you might have expected.

Sales were actually down a third for FIFA World Cup Germany 2006. What gifted it the top spot on the UK chart was Hitman: Blood Money's massive plunge - down 55 per cent over last week.

Nintendo's big equaliser, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?, debuted at No. 6 this weekend. If the game's popularity goes anything like it did in Japan, look for it to stick on the charts for a while. This is exactly the sort of thing that another DS game, Animal Crossing: Wild World, has become so good at. Months after release, it's still in the Top 10.

Other name games to land in the UK this week include bike racer Moto GP 06 (No. 4) and bigheaded football game Sensible Soccer 2006 (7). Unfortunately, the biggest winner this week was the sun. The hot weather proved a more than worthy distraction to gaming and sales for most of the Top 40 were down.

Below are the top 10 games in the UK for the week ending 27 May, as determined by Chart Track:

1. Hitman: Blood Money (Eidos)
2. FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 (EA)
3. Tomb Raider: Legend (Eidos)
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Konami)
5. X-Men: The Official Game (Activision)
6. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo)
7. The Sims 2 (EA)
8. Half-Life 2: Episode One (EA)
9. Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Rockstar)
10. Championship Manager 2006 (Eidos)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games