UK Charts: The Matrix enters at number one
No surprises at the top of the UK sales chart this week, as Atari's Enter the Matrix pushes Legend of Zelda off the top spot - and there are strong showings for GTA Vice City on PC and Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Xbox.
With four million units of the Matrix title shipped worldwide across four platforms, Atari was expecting no less than a chart-topping performance from the game in its first week - and it should repeat the performance next week in the UK, building on the inevitable success of The Matrix Reloaded, which opens in cinemas on Wednesday.
Whether the game can continue to sell strongly in subsequent weeks will inevitably rest on word of mouth and reviews of the title, and so far response to the game has been mixed. Only time will show if the strength of the franchise is enough to sell through those 4 million units.
Meanwhile the PC release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City propels the game back up to number two this week, from last week's number nine, and sees it taking the top of the PC full-price chart - ahead of Enter The Matrix. Activision's Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War also does well this week, coming in at number four in the All-Formats chart and debuting at number two on the Xbox chart.
There are also two new entries for THQ, namely Xbox Live enabled title Moto GP 2, which enters at number 12 on the All-Formats chart (No. 3 on the Xbox chart), and WWE Crush Hour, which appears at number 16 in the All-Formats chart.
Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker drops to number six from number one this week after only a fortnight at the top - perhaps reflecting the kind of rapid drop-off in sales we can expect to see from many popular GameCube titles, as the game sells strongly for a short amount of time and then hits the basic limitation of the console's small installed base.
Meanwhile, the unexpected success story for the month surely has to be Rockstar's Midnight Club II - which is still in the top three (at number three this week) after three weeks on sale, thanks to strong word of mouth and some good reviews.