UK Charts: Pokemon still on top as EA budget releases perform strongly

Nintendo's GBA Pokemon titles continue to occupy the two top spots in the UK sales charts this week, while much of the rest of the chart is dominated by EA's budget-priced releases of last Christmas' hits.

Both FIFA 2003 and Medal of Honor: Frontline consolidate their positions in the chart this week, each climbing a single place to numbers four and five respectively. Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers and James Bond 007 Nightfire are also to be found within the top ten (at number seven and eight).

Interestingly, these titles are selling relatively strongly on the Cube and Xbox, with Medal of Honor being the best selling Cube title in the UK last week, and the number two Xbox title. EA is filling in the usual summer gap with budget re-releases, thus cleverly extending the lifespan of eight month old games.

The only big new release of the week was Fox Interactive's Aliens Vs Predator: Extinction, which entered the charts at number twelve - topping the Xbox chart, but managing only a number eight placing in the PS2 rankings.

Of the big summer releases (aside from the Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire double act), Eye Toy: Play is still faring well, and is at number three in the charts this week, no doubt boosted by the news that Sony is planning to exhibit two new sets of games for the webcam peripheral at PlayStation Experience at the end of this month, while Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness slips to number six.

Publisher Eidos will be hoping for a boost for Tomb Raider with the launch of the second film based on the Lara Croft character later this month, although relations between game publisher and film distributor aren't exactly rosy at the moment - with Paramount Pictures recently blaming the poor quality of Angel of Darkness for the disappointing first weekend box office of Cradle of Life.