EA FLIPS out for kids

Electronic Arts is developing FLIPS, a new book range created for the Nintendo DS for children. FLIPS has been designed to give children of all ages a new way to read their favorite books. EA has worked with some of the UK’s leading publishers of children’s books and magazines, including Egmont and Penguin Publishing, to bring modern classic titles from authors such as Cathy Cassidy, Eoin Colfer, Enid Blyton, and the various writers from the popular boys series, Too Ghoul for School to the DS. Each FLIPS title features multiple books and the first four titles will be released exclusively on Nintendo DS in the UK on December 4th.  Titles include:
Enid Blyton (Egmont) - The Enchanted Wood(R), The Magic Faraway Tree, The Folk of the Faraway Tree, Enchanted World - Petal and the Eternal Bloom, Enchanted World - Melody and the Enchanted Harp, Enchanted World - Silky and the Rainbow Feather

Cathy Cassidy (Penguin)- Scarlett, Angel Cake, Sundae Girl, Shine on Daizy Star, GingerSnaps, Driftwood

Eoin Colfer (Penguin) - Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident, Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code, Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception, Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony, Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox

Too Ghoul For School (Egmont) - Silent but Deadly, The In-Spectres Call, Ghoul Dinners, The Bubonic Builders, Attack of the Zombie Nits, School Spooks Day, French Fright, Terror In Cubical Four

SKY coming to Xbox Live in mid-October

UK network Sky will be via Xbox Live in mid-October, according to a report on the Mirror. The confirmation on this comes from Sky’s own print publication Sky Magazine. Microsoft and the network announced during e3 that it would be bringing the network to subscribers in the United Kingdom sometime this year. Sky is already preparing for the service to be rolled out, with a web site dedicated to its programming on Xbox Live - sky.com/xbox360.

Pricing was not revealed in the report, but it may be the most important factors for UK Live users, so we’ll see if it is reasonable or not when the official announcement is made. Stay tuned.

PS3 Slim selling well in the UK, Japan

According to Famitsu, the new PS3 Slim’s design and pricepoint are a hit with Japanese gamers, who have bought over a 150,000 units in Japan in the first three days of launch last Friday. Meanwhile in the UK, ChartTrack reports

Earlier today, Chart-Track confirmed with VG247 that PS3 sales in the United Kingdom were up a whopping 1,000 percent.

If Sony can keep up this momentum in Europe and Japan and here in North America, then we might just have a contentious fight on our hands for second place in this generation’s cycle of consoles. Of course, as an example, the Xbox 360 saw some modest gains in the UK as well in that same week.

We’ll see how both systems did later this week when NPD Group releases numbers for North America.

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

The Sims 3 rules UK retail charts

The Sims 3 and Red Faction Guerrilla have managed usurp the top two spots on the UK charts from UFC 2009: Undisputed and Pokémon Platinum, pushing Nintendo’s popular Pokémon title to number 7 on the charts, and THQ’s fighting game to number 3. This is according to retail sales data from UK based research firm Elsa’s Chart Track.

EA Sports Active fell on spot top number 4, while Wii Fit moved up one spot to number 5 and InFamous fell by one spot as well. Rounding out this week’s top ten were the aforementioned Pokémon Platinum at number 7, followed by Guitar Hero: Metallica, Virtua Tennis 2009 (being released in North America this week) and Terminator Salvation. Top twenty for the week ending June 6, 2009 can be found below:

All Formats - Week Ending June 6, 2009

1 THE SIMS 3 - EA GAMES (new)
2 RED FACTION: GUERRILLA - THQ (new)
3 UFC 2009: UNDISPUTED THQ (last week #1)
4 EA SPORTS ACTIVE - EA SPORTS (last week #3)
5 WII FIT - NINTENDO (last week #6)
6 INFAMOUS - SONY COMPUTER ENT. (last week #5)
7 POKEMON PLATINUM - NINTENDO (last week #2)
8 GUITAR HERO: METALLICA - REDOCTANE (last week #4)
9 VIRTUA TENNIS 2009 - SEGA (last week #8)
10 TERMINATOR SALVATION - EVOLVED GAMES (last week #11)
11 FIFA 09 - EA SPORTS (last week #7)
12 FUEL - CODEMASTERS - (new)
13 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE - ACTIVISION (last week #13)
14 MARIO KART WII - NINTENDO (last week #12)
15 SACRED 2: FALLEN ANGEL - DEEP SILVER (new)
16 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR - ACTIVISION (last week #15)
17 MY FITNESS COACH - GAMES FOR EVERYONE (last week #16)
18 STAR OCEAN: THE LAST HOPE - SQUARE ENIX (new)
19 WII PLAY - NINTENDO (last week #10)
20 MYSTERY STORIES - GSP/AVANQUEST (new)

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