UK Charts

The UK charts are in for last week and it’s The Sims 3 that takes the top spot. It has become the fourth fastest selling PC title in the UK, behind the two World of Warcraft expansion packs and Championship Manager 4. Red Faction: Guerrilla goes in at a surprisingly high #2. The last Red Faction game was released way back in 2002 and if memory serves it wasn’t even as popular as the first.

Codemaster’s Fuel just misses out on a top 10 entry by arriving at #12. Blame the mediocre Terminator Salvation, which has gone up from #11 to #10. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel has also done well seeing that the first game wasn’t released on consoles going in at #15. In fact, it has done better than Square-Enix’s Star Ocean: The Last Hope which goes in at #18.

Moving down the chart, there’s something called Mystery Stories – which I’m guessing is a DS adventure game – at #20 and Jillian Michales’ Fitness Ultimatum at #27. Still no Boom Blox 2 or Punch Out in the top 40, but Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat goes in at #10 in the Wii chart. Hopefully the next New Play Control title to be released will be Chibi-Robo.

Resident Evil 5 is almost out of the chart completely, clinging on at #40. A price cut could well see it shoot back up though.

When it’s released next month virtual people simulator The Sims 3 will be the biggest thing to happen to PC gaming for a long time. So, it’s no surprise to see that retailers are offering bonuses if you buy it from them instead of their rivals.

If you don’t mind opening your wallet wide then Game has a Collector’s Edition for £44.99. It comes with a 2GB Plumbob USB memory stick, some downloads and £5 to spend in The Sims 3 store.

If it’s a new mouse that you need, then HMV is the place to go – £29.99 gets you the game, a Sims 3 branded mouse and a garish looking wallpaper skin for use in the game. By far the best deal.

The version Play.com are selling, on the other hand, comes with an exclusive Hawaiian floral pattern for £29.99, which doesn’t sound very exciting at all. But it could be worse – GameStation, Amazon and others aren’t offering any pre-order deals.