UK Charts: Desert Storm II storms to number one

Pivotal Games' Conflict: Desert Storm II has gone straight in at number one in the UK, displacing LucasArts' epic RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic after only a week in the top spot.

The game has followed in the successful footsteps of the first Conflict Desert Storm title, and was this weeks best selling title on the PS2, and second place on the Xbox (after Knights of the Old Republic), giving it a solid lead in the all-formats chart.

It marks the second top ten success for Pivotal Games and publisher SCi this month, with The Great Escape also charting in the UK top ten a few weeks ago. However, the future of Pivotal Games remains in the balance, with the studio still seeking a buyer following the financial collapse of parent company Kaboom Studios.

A strong week for UK-developed titles continues with Codemasters' Colin McRae Rally 04 debuting at number two in the chart, ahead of Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic at number three.

Two other new releases make it into the top ten ranking, with EA Sports' Rugby 2004 at number four, and another Star Wars title - namely Star Wars: Jedi Knight- Jedi Academy - popping up at number six, and topping the PC full-price chart.

The only other new entry in the top 40 is Nintendo's GBA title, Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age, which is at number 25 this week - a respectable enough showing for a sequel to a fairly niche RPG title, and as with many quality GBA titles, the game is likely to maintain a steady if relatively unimpressive trickle of sales for several months.

The biggest climber of the week is Eidos' The Italian Job: LA Heist, which rises to number ten from last week's number 19, presumably off the back of good word of mouth relating to the movie. Meanwhile there's a disappointing drop for Sony's critically acclaimed RPG Dark Chronicle, which is down to number 26 from last week's number ten.