UK Charts

There isn’t a single game in the top 10 chart this week that’s in the same place it was last week. Mostly notably, the jolly decent Toy Story 3 has risen from #5 to #1, DS-exclusive Dragon Quest IX enters at #10 while Crackdown 2 drops all the way from #1 to #10.

Despite not being very good both Naughty Bear and Sniper: Ghost Warrior have risen a few places – they were at #21 and #22 respectively but they’re now at #20 and #17. Transformers: War for Cyberton has driven up a few places too, going from #35 to #30.

There’s nothing massively major going on in the single format charts, although I am surprised to see F1 2009 at #8 in the Wii chart given that it’s almost eight months old.

UK Charts

Crackdown 2 has become Microsoft’s first all formats #1 of 2010. The last one only managed to get to #2, so all those sales of pre-owned copies haven’t been in vein. LEGO Harry Potter drops to #2, followed by Red Dead Redemption, Dance on Broadway and 2010 FIFA World Cup. Naughty Bear and Sniper: Ghost Warrior have both left the top 10 this week, suggesting that people have started finding out how bad they are.

Proving that Pokmon is still popular, PokePark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure enters the chart at #25. Alan Wake is back too at #23 thanks to some heavy discounts on the internet.

Although Singularity was on the rise last week, it’s now on the fall currently at #40. It might even leave the chart entirely next week. Shame.

UK Charts

Christ on a moped – this week’s chart is a bit of a shocker. LEGO Harry Potter has gone straight to #1, pushing Red Dead Redemption to #2. Naughty Bear enters at #5 (early reviews suggest it’s pretty unbearable, crap pun intended), the ace Demon’s Souls at #6 and Transformers: War for Cyberton at #8. Rooms: The Main Building, which was #5 last week, has fallen like a broken lift shaft all the way to #19.

Activision’s Singularity hasn’t had the best of starts making an appearance at a lowly #38. They only have themselves to blame – reviews have been good, but there has been next to no promotion.

Interestingly, the Wii version enters of Transformers hasn’t done nowhere near as well as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. It has only managed a limp #33 placing in the Wii chart while the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 iterations are at #11 and #5 respectively.

This Week’s Games

Despite the cute exterior, 505 Games’ Naughty Bear has been compared to Manhunt and has a 16+ age rating. Why all the violence, you ask? It’s because Naughty Bear wasn’t invited to another bear’s birthday party. It’s by the developers behind sleeper hit WET, so it might be worth a look despite the fact it hasn’t been reviewed yet.

Without a movie to tie-in into, Activision’s Transformers: War For Cybertron has turned out somewhat better than the last two Transformers games. Reviews suggest that it pays a great amount of fan-service and that the banter between robots is brilliant. However, it’s also quite short and the AI is dumber than Metal Mickey. I played the online beta for a bit, which plays a bit like Call of Duty with kill streaks, XP and the like. It’s much easier to get a kill though. While we’re on the subject of licensed games, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is out this week too.

It also looks like Activision are slipping Singularity into stores. This was quite hyped up at one point; I guess the end product isn’t as good as anticipated. Demon’s Souls on PlayStation 3 is certainly good though – it shifted way more copies than expected in the US, no doubt helped by the string of 10/10 review scores it gained.

Sherlock Holmes: The Secret of Osbourne House on DS could be a strong seller – the last one did very well for Ubisoft. Sadly I can’t see Metal Slug XX on PSP selling well – despite a cult following, Metal Slug games tend to drop in price very quickly and then end up in the bargain bin.

Next week: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Tournament of Legends, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, Pro Cycling Tour Manager: Tour De France 2010, Dragon Ball Z: Origins 2 and APB on PC.