Ninety-Nine Nights Stumbles Onto Charts

Things are still stagnant in the UK but Microsoft's touted Eastern battle orgy proved good enough to crack the upper ranks.

Just a week to go until this wretched drought is over and publishers get back to the business of bringing us entertainment, but we're not there yet. No surprise then that movie cash-in Cars again finds itself on top of this fetid pile of aging games.

But wait - what's that in the No. 8 spot? That, good readers, is a new game. Ninety-Nine Nights may not be a great game, but it is a fresh one, and with Xbox 360 owners already poring over the Xbox Live Marketplace out of boredom, being new is almost good enough. Ninety-Nine Nights is the first new entry in the Top 10 of the weekly sales chart in six weeks.

There was one other notable new release, but people didn't seem to be all that interested in Eidos's rehashing of Reservoir Dogs, and it failed to crack the upper echelon.

Next week is a big one, especially for the Xbox 360. THQ's Grand Theft Auto-alike, Saints Row, is out on Friday and the company will be watching with a keen eye to see if the formula has played itself out yet.

Below are the top 10 games in the UK for the week ending 26 August, as determined by Chart Track:

1. Cars (THQ)
2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar)
3. New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo)
4. The Sims 2 (EA)
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Konami)
6. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? (Nintendo)
7. Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo)
8. Ninety-Nine Nights (Microsoft)
9. Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts)
10. Need For Speed: Most Wanted (EA)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games