US console sales charts: July 9-15

Just when gamers thought New Super Mario Bros. and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Just Minutes a Day were cooling off, the DS duo got as hot as the summer days hitting much of the country. A week after slipping to fourth (Brain Age) and fifth (Mario), the pair took over the top two slots of BestBuy.com's weekly best-seller list, with Mario jumping back into first the week of July 9-15.

Two new Xbox 360 releases followed the portable pair on the ladder. Prey, the gravity-defying shooter from Human Head Studios, debuted in third place in its first week in stores. In fourth was Chromehounds, From Software's mech combat game, also seeing the light of retail for the first time this week.

Six soccer games from Electronic Arts occupied the top 10 last week, but with the World Cup decided and done, the tally this time was half the previous week's. The PlayStation 2 versions of 2006 FIFA World Cup and FIFA Soccer 2006 took fifth and seventh, respectively, while the top 10 was rounded out by the Xbox version of 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The rest of the top 10 was a mixed bag, with Big Brain Academy taking DS gamers to school at sixth, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja for the PS2 in eighth, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360 in the nine slot. The Xbox 360 had a strong showing, with a quartet of 360 games just missing the cut: 2006 FIFA World Cup (11th), FIFA Soccer 2006 (12th), Prey Collector's Edition (13th), and Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II (15th).

This week sees the newest release of a summertime juggernaut, NCAA Football 07, from EA. Check back next week to see if cover athlete Reggie Bush can high-step over Mario and take the top slot.