14 DAY TRIAL // A clear sign that the holiday-release season is in full swing, with AAA quality titles arriving each new week, is a quick look at the video-game sale chart in the United Kingdom, which now appears to be switching leaders each time a new edition comes out. This week, the newly released Need for Speed: Shift from Electronic Arts is the best sold game, with the more realistic installment in the series proving to be a hit with players.
The racing-oriented video game has displaced Guitar Hero 5 from Activision and Red Octane from the top spot it just captured last week, when it was released in the United Kingdom. Racing seems to be popular in the country, as Colin McRae: DiRT 2 from Codemasters manages to slide down just one spot to number three.
Batman: Arkham Asylum from Eidos is also down one position to the fourth, after also topping the chart, while Wii Sports Resort from Nintendo, a game that comes packed with the new Wii Motion Plus, which enhances motion tracking, is up one place from six to five. Wet, a new action title featuring tough, chic Ruby Malone, coming from A2M and Bethesda, managed to debut at number six, proving to be more popular with players than The Beatles Rock Band, from Harmonix and MTV Games, which sits at number seven, after debuting last week in the fourth place. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare managed to hold on to the eight spot, while Wii Fit is at number nine and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 from EA Games is bringing up the rear in the tenth place.
IL-2 Sturmovik is leaving the top ten, as is Mario Kart Wii, while Championship Manager 2010 from Eidos has failed to enter it on its first week on sales. It will be quite interesting to see whether Need for Speed: Shift sold because it was a solid title, or whether name recognition managed to put it in the number-one spot.