UK Charts: Sony's Athens 2004 takes Gold at last

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has scored its first number one in the UK software charts in twelve months, with Olympics tie-in title Athens 2004 jumping two places to take the top spot in the last week of the Games.

The success of Athens 2004 - which has been hovering in the top ten since its release in July and gradually climbing the ranking since the Games began a fortnight ago - has ended Activision's reign at the top of the charts after seven weeks at number one for the publisher.

The company continues to show strongly in the chart, however, with Spider-Man 2 up one place to number two, while former top spot incumbent Doom 3 drops two places to this week's number three.

Elsewhere in the chart, there are disappointing performances from both of last week's major new releases, with long-awaited Xbox exclusive RPG Sudeki managing only a number 25 placing after a lukewarm critical response, while Sega's Headhunter: Redemption debuted at number 32.

Budget titles are the strongest performers in the chart this week by far, with several games climbing the rankings thanks to official budget releases - as in the case with The Simpsons Hit & Run, which climbs 17 places to this week's number nine.

Other titles benefit from unofficial discounting in retailer promotions, with Rockstar's Red Dead Revolver and Eidos' Hitman: Contracts being notable re-entries at number 20 and number 30 respectively thanks to this trend.

Outside of the top three, Atari's Driv3r and Ubisoft's Xbox Live enabled Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow continue to perform strongly at numbers four and five, while yet another Activision title, Shrek 2, is at number six just ahead of a slew of EA budget releases - including FIFA 2004 (No.7), Need for Speed Underground (No.8) and Medal of Honor Rising Sun (No.10).

Vivendi's critically acclaimed Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, however, fares less well - the title sadly plummets down the rankings this week, falling nine places to number 17.

This week is Vietnam week at UK retail, as SCi's Conflict: Vietnam and Eidos' Shellshock: Nam' 67 both arrive on shelves on Friday, accompanied by three (count 'em!) new Megaman titles from Capcom, the superb Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Game$ on the GameCube from Nintendo, and Jaleco's World Championship Pool 2004, which slipped back a week from its planned date of last Friday.