US console sales charts: June 18-24

By Tim Surette, GameSpotPosted Jun 29, 2006 1:00 pm PT

Brains triumph over American and European football in BestBuy.com's top sellers; price slashing means ladder climbing for older Xbox games.

Last week was light on new releases, but one new high-profile game was put to the test. Electronic Arts' NFL Head Coach made its series debut on June 20 and is one of the first big-name sports strategy titles aimed at the American market.

For a football-starved country that devours EA's main pigskin franchise by the millions, sales prospects for NFL Head Coach were uncertain, as it focuses exclusively on coaching and management instead of Madden's on-the-field action. The game didn't quite get the Gatorade shower EA had hoped, but the PlayStation 2 version of the game landed in a respectable third place.

With the launch of the Nintendo DS Lite in the US earlier in the month, the dynamic DS duo of Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and New Super Mario Bros. swapped spots and landed in first and second, respectively. The highly rated Mario Kart DS kept its wheels turning in the top 10, power sliding into ninth, down two spots.

Football in the top 10 wasn't limited to the American variety--a flurry of FIFA soccer titles were also kickin' onto the list. Available now for $29.99, 2006 FIFA World Cup for the Xbox (fourth) and PlayStation 2 (fifth), as well as FIFA 06 for the Xbox (eighth), were helped along by surging interest in "The Beautiful Game."

The rest of the top-10 slots were older, budget-priced Xbox games. Star Wars: Battlefront II led the pack in the sixth slot, followed by Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse at seven and Ninja Gaiden Black at 10.

Noticeably missing from the list were any Xbox 360 games, thanks to a month that has so far seen only one new next-gen release (MotoGP 06 on June 16--Over G Fighters flew into stores today).

70 Comments

  • desilee

    Posted Sep 2, 2006 2:45 pm PT

    Ended

  • sirhamalot

    Posted Jul 2, 2006 7:08 am PT

    Wow, alot of good points, but it seems no one noticed Mario Kart DS on the list. Looks like the DS Lite is bringing back interest in older games. Also to the fellow who said the chart does not reflect the whole sales market, although that is true, you can usually see the charts mimic each other from store to store. Though the free Brain Age could off set that.

  • agefreak

    Posted Jul 2, 2006 3:11 am PT

    FIFA maintaining a healthy spot!!!! Shows how good the 2006 WC ed is.......

  • rbarahona

    Posted Jul 1, 2006 3:20 pm PT

    The Nintendo DS is performing well in the US, let's hope that Nintendo can keep the momentum. It was very good to see that the new sim by EA also landed in the top 5.

  • jugg3rn4ut

    Posted Jul 1, 2006 6:57 am PT

    See how Backwards Compatibility boosts Xbox games, Microsoft??! Take notice...!!

  • Vicerol

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 12:01 pm PT

    i won a psp and ds and let me tell you they both suck at this time

  • smiley17O

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 10:50 am PT

    THIS IS JUST BESTBUYS ONLINE SALES. NO GAMESTOP EB GAMES OR ANY OTHER STORE FOR GAME SALES. THIS ISNT EVEN ALL OF BEST BUYS SALES CAUSE THESE WERE GAMES SOLD THROUGH ONLINE BEST BUY AND DOESNT COUNT THE PEOPLE WHO GO TO ACTULL BEST BUY STORES AND BUY THE GAMES.

  • nytrospawn

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 9:59 am PT

    Price cuts on the Xbox games.

  • maoonparas

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 8:48 am PT

    how do i know who is the winner!

  • King_Dodongo

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 8:15 am PT

    PSP will never be on charts or top ten

  • terrabreak13

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 8:03 am PT

    I thought this article was about "US console sales" and not about "US console game sales". Anyway I almost bought a game for the original xbox.

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 6:57 am PT

    5 Xbox games in the top 10? It shows the Xbox-crowd is the most hardcore!

  • fjgamer

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 10:32 pm PT

    Wow, go Stubbs!

  • Nintendo_Man

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 9:57 pm PT

    And the 360 doesn't need a price drop, hmmm.

  • troakun

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 9:26 pm PT

    5 xbox games no 360 games? Move on people, I mean the 360 line-up can't be THAT bad.

  • rynmls

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 8:46 pm PT

    theres no good releases this days.... waiting and waiting

  • soulknight63133

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 8:43 pm PT

    Ninja Gaiden is one of the best action arcade title ever!

  • OmegaOrtega

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 8:31 pm PT

    Global_Nexus
    Brain Age is #1? Even if these sales are only at Best Buy, that's freakishly impressive. NSMB fell from first to second, which is too bad but second isn't bad. The Xbox made a comeback, which is nice since I'll finally be getting my own here sometime. Then I'll finally own all current/last gen. consoles. And PS2 games make up the rest. It's too bad there aren't any PSP games that sell well enough to get on -there-, because there are some really great ones.
    (select an action below) ______________ Report Abuse To Moderator Posted Jun 29, 2006 5:38 pm PT
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The truth. *shakes your hand*

  • crills

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 7:34 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • metroidlink1030

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 6:33 pm PT

    Just goes to show you American mainstream gamers will buy anything labeled EA.

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