108 days after it originally launched in the U.S., Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in Europe and promptly flew to the upper echelons of Europe's sales charts. Nintendo's scrapper was top of the Week 26 pile in Sweden, Germany, Britain, and Holland, was only beaten into second place by the absurdly popular LEGO Indiana Jones in Denmark and Ireland, and will probably be top when the one-week-behind Spanish charts are revealed next week.
Yet it wasn't all smooth sailing. In the UK and Ireland, Brawl very nearly had its high position compromised by a game we haven't seen in a while -- Wii Fit. Thanks to the Balance Board game getting restocked, the title leapt 27 places in the UK to third place, and was also third in Ireland, after being outside the Top 20 last week. A remarkable recovery, but it just shows how overweight desperate we all are for Nintendo's wobbly creation!
Check out what Europeans are buying after the break.
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 11:45AM by Phil Larsen Filed under: News
Those purple folk at the GAME Group (a prominent games retailer) have released European sales details for the first half of 2008, and it's looking pretty good. Group sales are up 54 percent, with like-for-like sales up 28.4 percent. Like-for-like is such a dumb term. Reminds us of these things.
Anyway, despite the strong performance of the group as a whole, the constant shortage of Nintendo products has left a gap in the big fat bricks of cash they're raking in. Well, the UK and Ireland are doing okay, but international performance isn't as high -- "particularly in Spain." Those wacky Spaniards and their neverending lust for technology! Total international sales were up 43.9 percent, with like-for-like (arrgh!) sales on the low end of the scale at 16.9 percent.
GAME will be opening 60 new stores before the end of the year, so if you aren't familiar with that big, neon purple logo, you soon will be.
You don't have to be a gas mask-wearing, telepathic oddball to know what dominated Europe this week. Metal Gear Solid 4's ascent to numero uno throughout most of Europe was thoroughly predictable, though that's not to suggest that Wii titles had it rough.
Most managed to maintain high spots (seriously, Britain, what is it about LEGO and Indiana Jones?), while there was a heartwarming comeback for Wii Fit, which finally seems to be getting restocked here. It's reappeared in the Irish and Dutch top tens, and made 11th in the UK.Sports Island debuted in European countries that aren't Britain this week, and for the most part had a storming start, with a third place in Holland and eighth in Germany. Yet there is also sad news, reader: Okami -- beautiful, stunning, endlessly gorgeous Okami -- only reached 20th. In Sweden. Gah.
Finding a copy of Wii Fit has become increasingly similar to a particularly frustrating edition of Where's Waldo? here in Europe. After totally disappearing from the UK's top 40 last week, it's now also vanished from the Dutch charts, and dropped several places in Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain. The only place that is getting the title seems to be Germany, where it sits at the top of the charts. Way to distribute evenly, Nintendo of Europe!
Away from the Wii Fit famine, Sega Superstars Tennis continues to yo-yo its way through the British charts (up this week from 24th to 9th), Wii Play is still flying high in Spain, Ireland, and Britain, while the rest of the Wii games to have charted all feature Mario, and include Galaxy, Kart, and that Olympics one that will never, ever, ever, ever go away.
Stock shortages cruelly deprivedWii Fit of a Top 40 spot in the UK this week (which constitutes one heck of a drop, considering it was third last week), but the rest of Europe seems to have plentiful supplies of the title, thanks very much. Wii Fit bumped Grand Theft Auto IV off of top spot in Germany and Spain, and reached fourth place in Ireland and Holland.
In fact, don't be surprised to see desperate Brits in the coming weeks smuggling the thing back to the UK from mainland Europe, much like what happened with the Wii itself before Christmas. Then again, maybe they're happy to get fleeced -- some quick browsing reveals that the game is already going for waaaay over its recommended retail price on eBay's UK site -- just takealook for yourselves. Yowza!
Wii Fit fever aside, Mario Kart Wii is showing no signs of running out of steam, while Mario and Sonic and Wii Play are also keeping the Wii flag flying high.
Grand Theft Auto IV continues to show up the competition across Europe this week, with either the PS3 or Xbox 360 edition claiming top spot everywhere. Wii pair Wii Fit and Game Night favorite Mario Kart Wii are close behind in most places (because we're optimists, we're now going to consider third as the new first), though yours truly would love to know where anybody is finding Mario Kart in the UK -- I hit the high street to find a copy for a friend a few days back, with zero success.
Further down the charts, Boom Blox made (what could almost be described as) an impact in its second week on sale, soaring from outside the Top 40 to 19th in the UK, while Super Mario Galaxy and Guitar Hero III rejoined the top ten in Holland and Sweden respectively. No Irish charts this week, we're afraid, but here's a hunch we had: Grand Theft Auto IV probably sold a lot.
Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii continue to fly the flag for the Wii in Europe, with the former appearing in every European top ten this week. Mario & Sonic also put in a characteristically strong performance, while Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (ninth in the UK) and Mario Party 8 (tenth in Holland) seem to be enjoying a second burst of shelf life after their release last year.
But heck, you can tell all that simply by inspecting the charts after the post break. What you probably won't remember is that Boom Blox launched in Europe this week, yet never threatened any of Europe's top tens/twenties/forties; looks like this Spielbergian gem has been given the same frosty reception by consumers that it experienced in the U.S. Weaksauce (as my American colleagues might say)! It's sadly ironic, really -- EA's best game for donkey's years, and it's not even charted.
Grand Theft Auto IV has absolutely steamrollered everything else in this week's European charts, with only plucky Spain holding out and wedging Wii Fit between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of Rockstar's hooker-killing simulator.
Essentially then, everything has been bumped down a notch, with Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit mostly leading the rest of the pack (and giving young girls complexes in the process), and games such as Sega Superstars Tennis and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 suffering the biggest drops.
Wii Fit is selling like gangbusters in Britain, where it accounts for half of all Wii software sold in the last week, and has given Nintendo its first one-two finish in the All Formats Chart since 2003. And guess what? It's more or less the same story throughout the rest of Europe.
The Irish are shedding the Guinness pounds, the Germans are working off those brätwurst, and Sweden ... well, we don't really have a lazy, go-to food stereotype for the Swedes. Anyhow, the point is: they're all loving it, and if Wii Fit doesn't appear in a chart (see: Spain, Denmark), it's probably because a country hasn't got it yet, or the charts have fallen behind.
Mind you, don't expect any of this Nintendo dominance to last: next week's charts are guaranteed to be all about one game (yet we suspect Wii Fit might give you have better legs than GTA IV in the long-term). Lean past the break for this week's European charts.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
Oh, Denmark. We thought we were friends. Sure, you and us Brits had that silly tiff back in 1066, but since then you've brought us nothing but joy. Think Hans Christian Anderson, Danish bacon, and Peter Schmeichel.
But now look what you've gone and done: on its debut week, you've relegated Mario Kart Wii -- top in every other European chart -- to second place.
Still, we suspect it won't matter in the greater scheme of things. All that needs to be known is that Mario Kart came, it saw, and it emphatically conquered, leaving closest rival Gran Turismo 5: Prologue choking on its cartoony exhaust fumes. Seeing whether it has legs over the next few weeks should prove interesting. As usual, make the jump for lots of painstakingly formatted chartage.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue dominates Europe this week, and only plucky little Sweden (where the game lies second) prevented it from being top dog in every single European chart.
In many cases, however, it's being hotly pursued by Wii software. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is still holding its own (rising to 3rd in the UK, 4th in Ireland, and keeping fifth place in Spain), Mario & Sonic continues to grip to the higher positions like a particularly stubborn limpet, Germany is the usual Nintendo lovefest, and Sweden finally has a Wii game that isn't Guitar Hero III in its top ten. It's a good one, as well.
As far as new games go, there's just the one, with Dancing Stage Hottest Party strutting its stuff and grabbing its crotch at 7th in the Dutch charts. Finally, Game Party and Carnival: Funfair Games continue to plummet down the UK charts. Muahahaha.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
Unlike reigning full beard freestyle world champion Elmar Weisser of Germany (who we admire fiercely), we have mixed feelings about this week's European sales charts.
For example, while we're heartened by the success of debutant Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (5th in the UK, and the Wii edition supplemented sales of other versions across Europe -- not bad for a game that appeared on every other console last October), we're irked by the flat performance of House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (15th in Britain, and nowhere to be seen in the charts of mainland Europe).
Europe, if you're reading, stop buying Game Party (7th in UK), Smarty Pants (10th in Spain), and Mario & bleeding Sonic (high everywhere) and let's get something half-decent up there for a change. Sega Bass Fishing should make next week's chart, so that'd be a good place to start -- let's have that top ten somewhere, please.Sigh. At least Elmar will never fail to impress us. Click on for the charts.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
If you live in Europe, there's an exceedingly good chance that you're into games about dudes shooting other dudes, though not dudes slashing other dudes. Two factors have led us to this conclusion: the recent chart-topping success of cow-brained murder-fest Army of Two (and now Ubisoft tactical shooter Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2), and No More Heroes' sudden disappearance from every European chart going, a week after it launched.
For other Wii games, meanwhile, it's been a week of mixed fortunes. On the plus side, Mario & Sonic continues to hold its own, by making the top five in the UK, Ireland, Holland, France, and Spain, and it looks like Wii Play is finally getting restocked, as it came from nowhere to reach 5th in Germany, 11th in Ireland, and 7th in the UK.
Less positively, Sega Superstars Tennis made all the impact of a kitten breaking wind, managing only 12th place in Sonic-mad Britain. Check out the full charts past the break.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
UK consumers have looked high. They've looked low. And they've reached their verdict: there isn't a better pair of Wii games than Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and ... Game Party. As a polished, slick, licensed product, we can totally understand (and almost support) Mario & Sonic doing well (it came second to Army of Two), but Game Party? Could this be the same Game Party that averages a whopping 23% on GameRankings, and which achieved a heady top score of 32% from IGN? It is? Way to go, Britain!
Beyond the top ten, Carnival: Funfair Games makes it to 16th place (and there's more where that came from), Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree sit in 31st and 37th spot respectively, and we weep into our keyboards for the future of the country.
Meanwhile, consumers in mainland Europe are also all over the plumber and the hedgehog, with the Wii version of Mario & Sonic registering top ten positions in the Netherlands and Spain, and sharing top spot in Ireland with the DS edition. Wii Play even makes an appearance in the Spanish and German charts, as it rolls cheerfully towards world domination.
Hit the break for a sprinkling of European charts!
If there's anything we take seriously around here, it's surveys. And, given the results of a recent one conducted in Spain, people there are serious about the loving the Wii. That's something we can get behind. Seriously.
Redundant adjectives aside, this is quite a feat, considering the country had a bad taste in its mouth from Nintendo's last console, the GameCube, where it only sold 200,000 units. The Wii doesn't have that problem, however, as it has shown to be a hit, especially with the older crowd and women in the country.
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Featuring charts from across the region, 
Featuring charts from across the region, 
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of Wii lovers.
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