Sims holds off Unreal II

Legend/Epic's long awaited First Person Shooter Unreal II only made it to a disappointing No.4 on its first week in the chart, failing to dislodge The Sims (No.1) or the immovable pair of Vice City (No.2) or The Getaway (No.3).

In the first chart of the year to feature several new entries, Battlefield 1942: The Road To Rome debuted at No.15, Legends of Wrestling II entered at No.22 (No.10 in the PS2 full price chart), while the GameCube version of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter boosted LucasArts' run and gun title back up to No.23, and No.1 in the GameCube chart. Staying on the Star Wars theme, The PS2 version of Clone Wars helped the Pandemic-developed shooter back up to No.36.

Elsewhere, the Xbox was again represented by two exclusive titles - Splinter Cell at No.24, and Halo at No.39. It was another quiet week for the Nintendo consoles, with neither the GameCube nor GBA showing an exclusive title in the All Formats Top 40 - despite the recent free GameCube title offer.

Konami's Dancing Stage titles continued to sell well, with Party Edition now up to No.7, although the ageing Euromix dipped to No.13. Even the Disney Edition is selling respectably, at No.18 in the PSone chart. You crazy, boogieing kids.

Crash Bandicoot: Wrath Of Cortex yet again heads the All Formats budget chart, with Monsters Inc. and Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone just behind it.

Several new titles were passed over by the consumer: CDV's Grom (PC), Empire's Bubble Bobble Old & New (GBA), Shadow Of Memories (PC), Disney's Treasure Planet (All Formats) - although once the movie comes out, expect to see the latter creep inexorably into the listings.

Next week again sees a slew of new releases, and our tips for the Top 40 are: Command & Conquer: Generals (PC), Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (PS2, Cube, Xbox), Contra: Shattered Soldier (PS2), and American Conquest (PC). Until next week.