UK Charts: Six weeks at the top for NFSU2
Street racing sequel keeps the motor running as the charts wrap up for 2004.
There's no change at the top of the UK software chart in the last week of 2004, with Electronic Arts holding on to pole position for a sixth week running with street racing title Need for Speed Underground 2.
The chart for the week leading up to New Year's Day shows Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also holding on to its number two position, although it loses the top spot in the PlayStation 2 chart, ceding the position to NFSU2 after a nine-week run.
The onset of the post-Christmas discounting at retailers leads to a number of changes further down this week's top ten, with Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: Warrior Within up three places to number three, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age up nine places to number six, and The Simpsons: Hit and Run up two places to number eight.
As might be expected, there are no new entries in the chart, but plenty of older titles climb the ranking thanks to retail discounts, including Activision's Shrek 2 (up 12 places to number 18), EA's Burnout 3: Takedown (up six places to number 21), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (up eight places to number 26) and Simpsons Road Rage (up eight places to number 29).
The first new releases of 2005 will be vying for position with last year's discounted hits in the charts next week, with the likes of Majesco's Vivendi-published Advent Rising (PC/Xbox), Konami's King Arthur (PS2, GC, Xbox) and most notably, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure (GC) and a new set of NES Classics all braving the January sales to put in a retail appearance.