US console sales charts: July 2-8

What happens when gaming's summer release schedule slows down? Cash-conscious gamers seek shelter in the shade of sales, picking up older games for discounted prices. This past week, BestBuy.com cleared out some inventory on some handheld games.

Jumping from out of nowhere and into the number-two slot of the week's best sellers was Drill Dozer for the Game Boy Advance. The highly rated game, which was released on February 6, benefited from a price slashed all the way down to $10 and has since sold out. Death Jr. for the PlayStation Portable also received a budget-priced boost, up to number six, as did number 13, Battles of Prince of Persia for the DS.

The excitement of the World Cup convinced gamers to play some virtual footie, as the PlayStation 2 version of 2006 FIFA World Cup made like Italy and landed in the number-one spot. Not far behind it at number three was the Xbox version, and the seven, eight, and nine spots went to the Xbox 360, GameCube, and PSP editions of the game, respectively. The beautiful game wasn't done there, however, as the 10th slot went to FIFA Soccer 2006 for the PlayStation 2.

DS-mania may be slowing down a bit, as Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and New Super Mario Bros., two games that have been in the top three for months, slipped to numbers four and five, respectively.

The new release for the Xbox 360, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II, failed to battle its way into the top 10 by one. However, older 360 titles made the top 20, including Major League Baseball 2K6 (13th), Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (15th), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (17th), and Over G Fighters (19th).