Chart-Track: Shadows of the Damned can't break into weekly top ten

Judging from the initial batch of reviews, Shadows of the Damned has been garnering itself a very decent critical reception.  Not bad for new IP, especially one from Japanese studio Grasshopper Manufacture, fronted by Goichi Suda of Killer7 and No More Heroes fame.  It certainly didn't hurt to have former Resident Evil producer Shinji Mikami and former Silent Hill sound producer Akira Yamaoka on board for the game's development.  Unfortunately, it's first week sales at retail have proven less impressive, at least in the UK.

In fact, by Chart-Track's reckoning, Shadows of the Damned did not even make it into the weekly software top ten, or even the top twenty.  If it's any consolation to fans, it almost made it into the top thirty, coming in at 31st place.  Call it the Grasshopper Manufacture curse: well-received by critics and fans, yet ultimately bombing at retail.

As you can see, F.E.A.R. 3 enjoyed a far more successful launch with a somewhat appropriate third place finish during its launch week, given that the second game launched in second place back in 2009.  Despite a 15 percent drop in sales from the previous week, L.A. Noire actually managed to leap to second place.  Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D meanwhile plummeted to sixth place on the weekly top ten, despite making its big debut in the UK as the second best selling title for the week ending June 18th.

For what it's worth, top seller Zumba Fitness managed to take the weekly software sales crown with a 33 percent increase in sales, its second highest sales week since the multiplatform exergame launched by in November 2010.