Byte vs Brick: Foot-to-ball vs Battle-to-field

Last week was a big, big week for on-off gamer-enrager EA, with the absurdly highly-promoted Battlefield 3 finally launching - but to mixed reviews, technical woes and bewildering media outlet favouritism. Was it enough to put DICE's latest at the top of the charts? In the UK, that's a resounding 'yes' - it topped the all-formats charts as well as the PC chart individually, with list-compilers Chart-Track revealing that its week-one sales exceed those of all 17 previous Battlefield games/expansions put together, and that it's the tenth biggest-selling week-one game of all time in the UK. Crikey. And an alarming sign of how little reviews, or the lack thereof, can affect the success of heavily-marketed games. C'est la billboard-based vie.

What about Steam? Well, with EA and Valve still at quiet loggerheads, BF3 didn't show up there - leaving the way clear for a game about a man in a tie to take the top-slot instead.

Steam (including pre-orders):

1. Football Manager 2012
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3. Dungeon Defenders
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
5. Stronghold 3
6. Payday: The Heist
7. Grand Theft Auto: The Complete Package
8. Left 4 Dead 2
9. Dead Island
10. Dead Space Pack

Good times for Dungeon Defenders and Stronghold 3, while the crazy discounting on GTA seems to have paid off. And the reappearance of Dead Space suggests EA would definitely be foolish to continue to steer clear of Steam.

UK Retail (including etailers, not including pre-orders):

1. Battlefield 3
2. Football Manager 2012
3. The Sims 3: Pets
4. The Sims 3
5. The Sims 3: Generations
6. Stronghold 3
7. The Sims 3: Late Night
8. The Sims Medieval
9. Rage
10. World of Warcraft: Catacylsm

6/10 of those are EA games, then. All eyes on Modern Warfare 3 in a couple of weeks - it'll be big, but will it be as big as the other ones or are people finally starting to tire of having the same meal at the same time every year?