If anyone is allowed to boast about its success and heritage, Capcom are amongst a handful of game companies that can pull it off. From their Street Fighter franchise, to Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, as well as more recent games such as Dead Rising and Lost Planet, Capcom have made a lot of great games.

To ensure everybody is aware of their many and varied accomplishments, Capcom have published a list of 42 of their own games that have managed to sell over a million copies. A simple chest-beating exercise, or a statement to current and potential investors? Maybe a bit of both.

You can view the full list over here, featuring Capcom’s top selling games from highest to lowest, all having achieved a million units in sales.

Ubisoft’s latest FPS Far Cry 2 has passed the one million sales mark in less than three weeks.

“The holiday quarter is off to a solid start with the successful launch of Far Cry 2,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “The game is well on track to achieve our expectations for the year.”

Set in the African savannah, Far Cry 2 promises to impress with its open world environment, non-scripted enemy AI, destructible environments, dynamic weather effects and multiplayer game play.

Far Cry 2 is available in stores now on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

Gears of War 2 has sold 2 million copies since its release last week on the 7th.

Gears fans (over 1.5 million from around the world) also helped rack up 15 million gameplay hours while signed into the game over the weekend, setting a new record for concurrent Live players in the process. The latest word from Major Nelson also includes news of over 19 million achievements being unlocked.

Expect our review soon, if we can pull ourselves away from the game long enough to write it that is.

After only two days at retail, an estimate from Japan’s Enterbrain puts sales of Nintendo’s new DS handheld, the Nintendo DSi, at over 170 000 units, which means Nintendo’s initial shipment of 200 000 units has probably sold out by now, with an additional 100 000 units shipping in to replenish the stock.

The new console went on sale last Saturday, at the beginning of a Japanese three day weekend, although a lot of gamers were clever enough to pre-order the system to avoid waiting in long queues.

We’ll have to wait until the end of the week to get the official Japanese Media Create numbers, but those sales sound amazing.

Fifa ’09 has only just been released last week and it’s already sold 1.2 million copies across Europe. This, according to EA, makes it the fastest start in the history of the franchise. President of EA SPORTS, Peter Moore, enthused:

”FIFA Soccer 09’s great kick-off is a testament to our loyal fans across Europe who simply can’t wait to get their hands on the game. FIFA Soccer 09 is EA’s best soccer offering to date featuring game modes such as Be A Pro: Seasons, 10 vs. 10 Online Team Play, FIFA 09 “Clubs” and the adidas Live Season service. This is our fastest selling FIFA game of all time and it’s rewarding to see the game so high on the list of must-have titles this holiday.”

A huge success and it hasn’t even released around the world just yet! When it does release in North America and Asia on October 14th, (Wii and Nintendo DS on October 28th), expect that sales number to rise dramatically!

The Xbox 360 is apparently leading the sales charge in the UK two-to-one against the PlayStation 3, after 360 sales saw a 214% rise in the last two weeks. According to Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA VP (whoa), Chris Lewis, this can be attributed to the recent price cut and a new advertising campaign:

“Our commitment to continuously improving and innovating new content, our new high-profile marketing campaign and the fact that we’re now the best-value next-gen console on the market with an entry-level ERP of GBP 129.99 combine to make Xbox 360 the right blend of gaming and wider experiences at the right price to offer unparalleled entertainment for everyone. And these figures prove it.” Lewis also believes that this trend extends into Europe:

“This data shows that the Xbox 360 trajectory continues upwards, and not just in the UK. We’ve seen uplift in all countries in Europe and are confident that even at this rate of growth we can keep retail satisfied with a steady supply of consoles throughout the Christmas season.”

Recently released sales figures for the UK reveal that the install-base for the big three consoles, as of September 2008, read as follows:

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Microsoft has revealed that the Xbox 360 has crossed the six million sales mark in Europe.

Microsoft believes this momentum will continue thanks to the reduced price of the Xbox 360, their strong line-up of games and the launch of the New Xbox Experience. The Xbox 360 Arcade now retails at £129.99 while the 60GB 360 costs £169.99 and the 120GB Elite £229.99.

Chris Lewis, Vice President, Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA, said: “We’re very excited that more consumers in Europe are joining the ever-growing Xbox 360 community. We’re now the best-value next-gen console on the market with an entry-level ERP of £129.99, and consumers have clearly responded to that offering.”

“We’re supporting this momentum by putting launch-level investment into a European advertising campaign, launching this week, which shows how Xbox 360 is changing the way consumers experience entertainment. With the New Xbox Experience on the horizon, and great titles like Lips, Scene It?; You’re In The Movies, Fable 2, and more, there’s never been a better time to jump in to all that Xbox 360 offers.”

Microsoft and Tecmo have announced that Ninja Gaiden II has sold over one million copies worldwide.

The Xbox 360 exclusive was released in June and NPD data shows that it went on to sell 412 000 copies in the US alone, boasting $25 million in sales.

If you have read our review of the game you will know that “Like its predecessor, Ninja Gaiden II follows the exploits of Ryu Hayabusa of the Dragon Lineage. Predictably, he has to pursue a horde of unleashed Hellspawn, whip their butts back to the underworld, and prevent some unspeakable evil from being released. Assisting him in his quest is Sonia, a CIA agent who inexplicably dresses like a dominatrix.”

Bionic Commando Rearmed passed the 130 000 digital sales mark in just seven days.

Bionic Commando producer Ben Judd announced the sales figure on the game’s website, commenting “That may not seem impressive compared to package titles that sell in the millions but compared to other digital titles that is a friggin JUGGERNAUT!”

Bionic Commando Rearmed is Capcom’s remake of the classic 1988 NES game. The game is available for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live, for $9.99 on the PlayStation Network and costs $14.99 on PC.

The four largest sales monitoring and reporting firms in the world are to team up to release the most definitive video game sales chart reports available.

Each of the main territories are covered, with NPD covering the US, Chart-Track covering the UK, Enterbrain providing Japanese sales data and GFK providing sales numbers from Europe. The new monthly sales report that will result from this partnership will be called the Top Global Markets Report and will provide a report that is truly representative of worldwide point-of-sale data.

Their first report has been released, revealing the worldwide, cross-platform sales data for the top five selling games this year:

• Grand Theft Auto IV - 6,293,000
• Super Smash Bros: Brawl - 5,433,000
• Mario Kart Wii - 4,697,000
• Wii Fit - 3,604,000
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - 3,475,000

No surprises then, except for the (still not surprising) performance of three Wii-only titles, making it to the top 5.

Core Gaming revealed some interesting South African sales figures at the recent launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This data, provided by GFK Statistics, gives us a clearer indication of how the console race is being run in SA.

Total gaming and Home Market Share

Let’s start by taking a look at the total gaming market in SA. Home consoles led the charge in Quarter 4 of 2007 with 87% while handheld consoles trailed with 12% and the remaining 1% was allocated to other. Quarter 1 of 2008 saw handheld consoles gaining slightly with 15% but home consoles still dominated at 83% and other remained at 1%.

Moving ahead to Quarter 2 of 2008, home consoles still lead with 74% while handheld decreased to 10% and other increased to 15%. Matthew Grose, General Manager of Core Gaming Systems, speculated that the other category could include mobile gaming.

Turning now to consider the Home Market Share related to second generation and third generation consoles (called previous generation and next generation consoles for the purposes of this article), it is clear that the next generation consoles lead the race and that their lead is increasing each quarter.

Quarter 4 of 2007 saw the previous generation and next generation consoles facing off pretty equally with the previous at 48% and next gen at 52%. However, by Quarter 1 of 2008 the next gen consoles had pulled away with 58% in comparison to previous gens 42% and Quarter 2 of 2008 saw next gen increasing this lead to 65% while previous gen trailed with 35%.

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Namco Bandai today announced that Soul Calibur IV has shipped two million units worldwide since its launch on the 1st of August.

The latest installment in the popular fighting series features two guests from the Star Wars galaxy – Darth Vader appears in the PS3 version while Master Jedi Yoda is in the Xbox 360 version. Darth’s secret apprentice from LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed appears on both platforms.

Look out for our review of Soul Calibur IV soon.

Konami has announced that sales of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot have topped one million units within the first week across Europe.

Konami shipped over one million copies of the PS3 exclusive stealth game to retailers across Europe “to meet the exceptional demand.” Konami also confirmed high sales in all European territories and that the 25 000 copies of the limited edition MGS4 sets made available across Europe were bought almost immediately by MGS fans.

“The Metal Gear Solid series has again proved its huge potential, and we are delighted with the fantastic response the game has enjoyed at retail,” commented Martin Schneider, Sales and Marketing Director Germany for Konami.

“MGS4 is nothing short of a masterpiece – an epic conclusion to the Solid Snake story. We are extremely pleased with the positive feedback we have received from retail and consumers alike, and will keep satisfying their needs with updates to the game’s ‘Extra’ option, and via new content to Metal Gear Online.”

MGS4 was released worldwide on the 12th of June and marks the final adventure of Solid Snake. The game sees an ageing Snake taking on long-time enemy Liquid Snake who has taken control of various private armies. The disc also includes Metal Gear Online, a dedicated online game that features locations from MGS4.

Find out more about the game in our MGS4 review.

The latest financial results from Take Two have revealed that Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV has sold approximately 8.5 million units as at the 31st of May 2008, with shipment to retail now at 11 million.

GTA IV was released on the 29th of April and broke records by selling about 6 million copies worldwide in the first week valued at $500 million.

Take Two’s financial results for its second quarter ending the 30th of April 2008 showed that net revenue was $539.8 million, up from $205.4 million for the same period last year. Net income was $98.2 million, up from last year’s net loss of $51.2 million.

Downloadable episodic content for the Xbox 360 of GTA IV will be released during the first quarter of Take-Two’s 2009 fiscal year which runs from November to January.

A PSP title was once again on top of the Japanese video sales rankings last week according to tracking company Media Create. Konami’s Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3 notched up 117 000 sales, a very good result for the series on PSP as the first two sold just 38 836 and 27 213 in their opening weeks. In second place Bandai-Namco’s Endless Frontier, a new Super Robot Wars OG game for the DS, sold 98 000 in its opening week.

The only holdovers on the chart this week were Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii at 50 000 and Wii Fit at 46 000, and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) at 45 000. In fact, Nintendo’s recent dominance in the charts took a breather this week as no less than eight of the top 10 titles were published by third parties, including a few by smaller companies.

Bandai-Namco’s fitness game for the Wii, Family Trainer, sold 44 000 copies in its opening week. Kadokawa Shoten’s D.C. II: P.S., which looks to be a dating sim of some sort for the PS2 sold 40 000. Valhalla Knights 2 from Marvelous Entertainment was the third PSP entry in the top ten in a week which only featured two DS entries in the chart, with 32 000 copies sold. Finally, Mana Khemia 2: The Fallen School and the Alchemists (PS2) from Gust and Empty Space Training from Benesse for the DS make up the final two spots. If anything this chart has the most interesting game titles of any in quite a while - quite what Empty Space Training is is anyone’s guess!

The hardware chart is posted to tomorrow, and as always we look forward what it holds!