UK Game Charts: November 19-25

Epic Games' Gears of War may be the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game ever, and it may have ousted Halo 2 from the top slot on Xbox Live, but this week sees it knocked down the UK All-Formats game chart to number three--after only one week at the top. FIFA 07 is back in the top slot, with Need for Speed Carbon idling at number two.

The top 10 is dominated by Electronic Arts and THQ--both companies can boast three titles in the upper half of the charts. For EA, it's FIFA 07 at one, Need for Speed Carbon at two, and The Sims 2: Pets at four. THQ has WWE Smackdown! vs. RAW 2007 at six, Bratz: Forever Diamonds at nine, and Cars at 10.

The biggest climber of the week is Buzz: The Big Quiz, which moves up seven spaces to 28. The dubious honour of the biggest drop down the charts goes to Medieval II: Total War--it plummets 17 spaces to 32.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow has been released on DVD, boosting sales of the game, which went sailing back into the top 40 at 23.

The highest new entry this week is Activision's Guitar Hero II, which enters the chart at 16. Most of the other new releases last week didn't manage to break into the top 40, including Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, Cricket 07, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Party Edition.

Next week sees the release of even more new games, though no particularly strong contenders for the top slot. Heroes of Annihilated Empires, The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Fifth Disciple, and The Rise of the Witch-King will be released for the PC; The Sims 2: Pets comes out for the PlayStation Portable; and a series of animal-themed titles arrive for the DS--Horsez, Catz, and Hamsterz Life.