Fight Night Round 4 tops UK retail charts

EA Sports’ Fight Night Round 4 debuted as the top selling game in the United Kingdom for the week ending June 27, 2009 - according to ELSPA’s ChartTrack. EA’s boxing title pushed Prototype, The Sims 3, and Wii Fit down the charts by one spot. UFC Undisputed managed to move up one spot to number 5 while the new Transformers game debuted at number 6, Call of Duty World at War fell from the number 5 spot to number 7, and Ghostbusters took a hard dive to number 10 from the number four spot. The top twenty can be found below:

CHARTTRACK WEEKLY CHARTS

1 FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4

2 [PROTOTYPE]

3 THE SIMS 3

4 WII FIT

5 UFC 2009: UNDISPUTED

6 TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

7 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR

8 VIRTUA TENNIS 2009

9 EA SPORTS ACTIVE

10 GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME

11 GRAND SLAM TENNIS

12 PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE

13 RED FACTION: GUERRILLA

14 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE

15 FIFA 09

16 MARIO KART WII

17 OVERLORD II

18 GUITAR HERO: GREATEST HITS

19 POKEMON PLATINUM

20 WII PLAY

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C) 2009 ELSPA Ltd

Prototype dominates UK sales charts

Prototype was the top selling game in the United Kingdom, according to ELSPA’s Chart Track for the week ending June 20, 2009 - up from the number two spot the week prior. The Sims 3 was knocked out of the top spot by Activision’s super hero action game, while Red Faction: Guerilla was pushed out of the number three spot by Wii Fit and the debut of the new Ghostbusters game, falling all the way to number six.

Meanwhile, UFC 2009 Undisputed fell two spots to number seven, while Call of Duty World at War rose from number seven to number five. EA Sports Active was down two spots to number eight, while Virtua Tennis 2009 cracked the top ten at number nine and Grand Slam Tennis managed to land at number ten.

The rest of the top twenty can be found below:

UK Retail Sales - June 20, 2009

1 PROTOTYPE
2 THE SIMS 3
3 WII FIT
4 GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME
5 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR
6 RED FACTION: GUERRILLA
7 UFC 2009: UNDISPUTED
8 EA SPORTS ACTIVE
9 VIRTUA TENNIS 2009
10 GRAND SLAM TENNIS
11 PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE
12 FIFA 09
13 INDIANA JONES AND THE STAFF OF KINGS
14 MARIO KART WII
15 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE
16 POKEMON PLATINUM
17 GUITAR HERO: METALLICA
18 INFAMOUS
19 ARMA II
20 RESIDENT EVIL 5

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track

UK Charts - Week Ending April 25, 2009

Wii Fit topped the UK All Formats charts for the week ending April 25, 2009 - according to retail sales data from Chart Trak released this morning. The latest game starring Vin Diesel debuted at the number 2 spot, pushing The Godfather II and FIFA 09 down a couple of spots, while Resident Evil 5, Professor Layton, and the rest of the top ten managed to hold onto the positions they held last week. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics was the biggest loser this week plummeting from the number 4 spot all the way out of the top ten to the eleventh spot. Full All Formats chart below:

1 - WII FIT
2 - THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: DARK ATHENA
3 - THE GODFATHER II
4 - FIFA 09
5 - RESIDENT EVIL 5
6 - PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE
7 - MARIO KART WII
8 - WII PLAY
9 - CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR
10 - CARNIVAL: FUNFAIR GAMES
11 - MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
12 - DR KAWASHIMA’S BRAIN TRAINING
13 - GUITAR HERO: WORLD TOUR
14 - MY FITNESS COACH
15 - SEGA MEGA DRIVE ULTIMATE COLLECTION
16 - CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE
17 - RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS TV PARTY
18 - GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
19 - BEN 10: ALIEN FORCE
20 - LEGO INDIANA JONES: ORIGINAL ADVENTURES

UK Ad Campaign Draws Ire from Game Industry

Once again, it looks like the video game industry is in the crosshairs of the government hype machine, this time in the United Kingdom. Recently, the UK Department of Health began its Change4Life program, a government sponsored initiative designed to combat childhood obesity. Initial television ads for Change4Life showed a boy made out of modeling clay tinkering with a game controller in front of a television. The camera zooms in on the boy, then moving under his skin and showing “fat cells” increasing in his body. Later, the television screen shows the boy blasting a silhouette of himself onscreen, before a “Game Over” screen pops up. (See the full ad here.) While that ad drew some initial heat from the game industry, it’s nothing compared to the anger generated by the latest round of government sponsored ads.

Recently, the Change4Life initiative has been running a series of print ads, this time ditching the claymation work in favor of a real boy. The ads show a young boy slouched back on a sofa with a PlayStation controller. The headline reads “Risk An Early Death, Just Do Nothing” with an emphasis on the word “Death”. With the support of the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, and Cancer Research UK, the new print campaign seems to directly link video game to an unhealthy lifestyle, despite huge strides made by the game industry to fight that very misconception, and even UK government funded studies on the game industry finding no direct correlation between video games and childhood obesity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Video Game Pirate Spends His Booty … On His Booty?

Everyone knows the old saying, “Crime doesn’t pay.” But that doesn’t ever seem to stop people from trying. One UK-based software pirate learned that the hard way on Friday, sentenced to three years in jail on counterfeiting charges. What makes the story even more interesting, though, is how the crook chose to spend his ill-begotten gains.

According to the Entertainment Leisure and Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), Steven Raymond Adams,38, and his girlfriend/partner in crime, Julie Frendo, 33, lived in the lap of luxury by selling illegally copied games, film, and music at computer fairs and over the internet. The man owned a Spanish apartment, drove a Range Rover, and even appeared in a health and fitness article in UK tabloid, The Sun, bragging about spending £10,000 (roughly $9,000 USD) on extensive weight-loss surgery for himself and another £4,000 (roughly $6,000 USD) on breast enlargement for Frendo.

Read the rest of this entry »

ELSPA Study: Brain Training Trains Brains

ELSPA, the trade organization dedicated to the video game industry in the United Kingdom, announced the results of a study that we already know: Brain Training Games train your brain. Wow. In case you didn’t believe that games like Nintendo’s Brain Training series didn’t work, ELSAP has some proof for you.

Learning and Teaching Scotland has issued the results of a study of over 600 students in 32 schools. That study found that the game improved students’ mathematical ability, concentration and behavior levels. These results were revealed today during The Scottish Learning Festival.

And in other news, ELSPA announced that they are headquartered in the United Kingdom.

GfK Takes Control of ChartTrack

GfK Group has bought a controlling interest in UK retail sales data tracker ChartTrack, according to published reports. The GfK Group has bought 46 percent of ChartTrack’s shares, adding to the nine percent stake the company already held. With this controlling interest in the group a new entity is being formed called GfK ChartTrack Limited

ELSPA, the UK trade organization for the interactive entertainment industry is pretty comfortable with the deal. The group has said in other published reports that the UK sales data firm will continue in its current activities unabated. ELSPA holds a 45 percent stake in ChartTrak along with the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA).
ChartTrack collects sales data in the United Kingdom for both video games and music and has done so rather successfully since its formation in 1996.

Source: MCV