UK: Metal Gear Solid 4 has minimal effect on PS3 sales

Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4 has been leading video game sales charts around the world since its release this Thursday, but despite its currect exclusivity to the PlayStation3, has failed to make much of an impact on console sales in the UK.

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Chart-Track has revealed a "minimal" improvement of seven percent in PS3 sales.  "There's not a lot to say about it – it had minimal impact really. Units were up by seven percent," says Chart-Track director Dorian Bloch.

While MGS4 has become the second fastest selling PS3 title after GTA4 across the pond, it is still 14,000 short of matching Metal Gear Solid 2 sales figures on its opening weekend.  In contrast, GTA4 broke all records held by its predecessor GTA: San Andreas; then again, Rockstar erred on the side of caution by going multi-platform.

Meanwhile, Nintendo DS sales have spiked since the Europe-wide release of three new colors -- red, turqoise and green -- last Friday, June 13.  Chart-Track did not publish exact hardware figures, but black made up "more than a third" of DS sales.  Bloch explains, "The new colours had a massive impact – sales were up hugely.  Black is still the king, followed by red, pink, white, turqoise, green and silver."

Bloch also mentioned the success of Nintendo's new DS bundle featuring Brain Training, a deal made specifically for Father's Day; there was also a special DS bundle pack for Mother's Day. 

It looks like Nintendo's marketing tactic of targetting a broader consumer demographic is still paying off.  Many predicted that this year's slew of sequels to long standing franchises like Metal Gear Solid would make 2008 Sony's year of salvation, but it seems that Sony has yet to see any significant profit after losing so much on the PS3 gamble. 

Well, there's always Final Fantasy XIII for the true believers.