This week's GameFly video game rental charts for North America, specifically relating to games rented via the games-by-mail service for the week ending April 3rd, show popularity over multiple game formats.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Square Enix and Disney's collaborative PlayStation 2 release of Kingdom Hearts II has already trumped Bethesda's Xbox 360 role-playing epic, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, knocking it from the number one spot last week, down two to number three on the all-format chart. Equally astonishing is the fact that Ubisoft's arcade-style aerial combat title for the Xbox 360, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, has climbed above Oblivion to take the number two spot.
Focusing on the Xbox 360 alone, Blazing Angels climbed up one spot to take the top spot, while Oblivion again fell, this time to number two. Ubisoft's recently released first-person shooter, Far Cry Instincts: Predator, rounds out the top three Xbox 360 titles by stalking its prey from the third spot.
Electronic Arts' The Godfather: The Game tightens its grip on the top spot for Xbox rentals, while PlayStation 2 replaced the gritty mob title with the bright colors and anime styling of Kingdom Hearts II. EA and Criterion's Black remains in the number two spot from last week, proving once more that sometimes all it takes to make a popular game is to blow stuff up. For the Xbox, Ubisoft's Far Cry Instincts: Evolution takes the third spot, while PlayStation 2 owners remained satisfied with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, as it remains in the third spot for that platform from the week prior.
Over on the Gamecube, anime fans continue to show support for Naruto, as D3P's Naruto: Clash of Ninja holds onto the top spot for the third straight week. Next-Level Games' Super Mario Strikers remains in the second spot as well, while Sega's mascot-based racer, Sonic Riders, replaces Ice Age 2 for the third most popular GameCube rental for the week. On Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, Naruto: Ninja Council proves once again to be the one to beat. Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories reappears on the charts in the number two spot, no doubt spurred by the release of Kingdom Hearts II, and once again Namco and Nintendo's Tales of Phantasia sits idle at number three.
Not much changed since last week with regards to the Nintendo DS. Once again Metroid Prime: Hunters beats the odds, and proves that a 3D first-person shooter can be done, and done well, on the DS by taking the number one spot. Nintendo's Wi-Fi enabled take on the puzzle classic and emotional side-scrolling adventure swap spots, as Super Princess Peach climbs one to number two, while Tetris DS drops to third position. On Sony's PSP, Daxter again takes the top honors, followed by Namco's Me & My Katamari, and Ubisoft's portable spy thriller, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials.
