UK Charts: Rockstar muscles in on top-spot

England may still be clinging to the hope of a World Cup win, but the dream is over for EA this week as Rockstar moves back into Liberty City and climbs straight to the top of the charts.

Jumping from way down the list at number 37 to claim the top spot, the PS2 launch of GTA: Liberty City Stories has rocketed sales, pushing FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 into second place.

The third spot is claimed by Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training on DS, which climbs a single place and marks the highest of eight DS exclusive titles in the top 40 - the bulk of which are re-entries as a result of hardware bundling at retail to support Nintendo's latest handheld launch.

In fourth place, Konami's Pro Evolution soccer is the only football title to show an increase in sales, gaining 15 per cent on last week's figures and stepping up a single position from last week's number five.

Eidos is sticking to the top end of the charts with Hitman: Blood Money and Tomb Raider: Legend, both of which slide three places to rest in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Nintendo proves that a puppy is not just for Christmas as Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends enjoys a five place climb from 12 to seven, Midway's epic Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War taking the top spot in the PC charts and securing eighth place in the all-formats chart - up from last week's number fourteen.

Sensible Soccer concedes three places and drops into ninth position and another DS title clings to the bottom of the top ten, despite a 30 per cent rise in sales for Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Notable new entries this week include Activision's latest animated movie tie-in Over The Hedge, which almost made it to the top ten but nestled instead at number 12, followed by Koei's Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires.

The DS Lite launch has clearly had an impact on general software sales, chart re-entries coming thick and fast for Metroid Prime: Hunters at 16, Mario Kart DS at 27, Tetris DS at 29, Sonic Rush at 33 and Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll at number 40.

As sales of the latest hardware unit continue, there's likely to be a further reappearance of some of the more innovative multi-format releases and several DS exclusives in the coming weeks.

New releases this week include the triumphant return of everybody's favourite miniature racers, as Codemasters launches Micro Machines V4 on PC, PS2 and PSP, THQ releases PC title Titan Quest and SEGA sets more primates free with Super Monkey Ball Adventure on PS2 and PSP.

If we were placing bets on chart success however, our money would be riding on the resounding success of hugely anticipated DS title, New Super Mario Bros.