We love a fitness fad here in the UK, as evidenced by Wii Fit's dominance of the UK charts during the height of its popularity in 2009 when it tallied a total of 16 weeks atop the charts. And then there's Zumba Fitness: a fashionable fitness regime that's gone from strength to strength in the UK this year at its various participating gyms across the country.
As a mark of that popularity, this writer's girlfriend is taking her first Zumba class tonight - usually she'd only leave the house for work or the promise of cake. It's perhaps not a massive surprise, then, that since the Wii version of 505 Games' Zumba Fitness launched in April of this year, the title has notched-up five weeks atop the charts.
This week it enjoyed a 33% increase in sales according to official Chart-Track figures, and even managed to shift more units than the next three games on the chart combined (LA Noire at No.2, new release FEAR 3 in at No.3, and DiRT 3 at No.4). Coincidentally, FEAR 2 launched at No.2 when it was released in 2009.
Elsewhere across the top 10, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D dropped from No.2 to No.6, Duke Nukem Forever slipped to No.8 from No.3, and Top Spin 4 enjoyed its first visit to the top 10 after its launch in March. A certain Major tennis tournament going on in south London at the moment will be entirely responsible for that, as it will be for Virtua Tennis 4's jump from No.35 to No.20 this week.
June's new releases continued to perform badly in the charts: Child of Eden dropped ten places to No.35, Red Faction Armageddon languished down at No.32 (a 20 spot drop), new release Shadows of the Damned had a shocking launch at No.31 (look out for our review in the coming week), Alice: Madness Returns slid down the chart ten places to No.23, Transformers: Dark of the Moon entered the top 40 this week at No.17, and Dungeon Siege III dropped straight out of the top 10 by moving down to No.14 after its launch last week.
Note to game marketers: June may not be a great month to release your big titles in the UK.
Zumba FitnessLA NoireFEAR 3DiRT 3LEGO Pirates of the CaribbeanThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DFIFA 11Duke Nukem ForeverBrinkTop Spin 4
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