Mario and Sonic Lead Casual Chart Rush

And Nintendo continues to cash in on the trend.

It wasn't long ago that sales charts the world over were filled with hardcore games made for hardcore gamers. The turnaround has been swift and impressive.

The latest weekly sales charts for the UK are evidence of the recent success of games directed at more casual audiences, and in particular the domination that Nintendo has had of that market.

The top-selling game this week is Sega and Nintendo's mascot mash-up Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Not far away is Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, a game that was originally released on the DS nearly two years ago and has sold millions of copies since.

The DS and Wii have done well to capitalize on this trend. The individual format chart, which shows how well games sale on each systems, is overrun by games for Nintendo platforms, making up 12 of the top 20 spots.

All told, there are eight games aimed at this new market in the Top 20 combined sales chart and five of these are published by Nintendo.

Among the core games, it's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that's doing best. The game has been one of the most popular games each week since it was released in late 2007, coming in at No. 2 this week. Another shooter joining the list is Unreal Tournament III, which sneaks into the Top 10 in its opening weekend.

Below are the Top 20 games across all formats for the week ending 23 February, as determined by Chart Track:

1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
3. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
4. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom)
5. Wii Play with remote (Nintendo)
6. Game Party (Midway)
7. Turok (Disney)
8. FIFA 08 (EA)
9. Unreal Tournament III (Midway)
10. The Simpsons Game (EA)
11. FIFA Street 3 (EA)
12. Cooking Mama 2 (505 Games)
13. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft)
14. Burnout Paradise (EA)
15. More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima (Nintendo)
16. Need For Speed: ProStreet (EA)
17. Sight Training (Nintendo)
18. Professor Kageyama's Math Training (Nintendo)
19. Ratatouille (THQ)
20. Carnival: Funfair Games (2K Play)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo