UK Charts: Pandora Tomorrow hangs on to number one

Ubisoft enjoyed another seven days at the top of the UK games chart today as Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow enjoyed held off Everything Or Nothing to claim its second week at the top, with a little help from the release of the PC version.

Sonic Heroes moved back up to number three, Far Cry dropped one place to number five (number two on PC, behind Norton's Internet Security product), while LMA Manager 2004 slipped to number six and Sonyâs This Is Football 2004 moved up eight places to number seven, leapfrogging FIFA 2004 (number eight) in the process.

Other fast movers this week included Rainbow Six 3, up 12 places to number nine, Christmas blockbuster The Simpsons Hit & Run, up seven to number ten, while Splinter Cell (the original game) moved up 12 places to number 12.

In a relatively quiet week for new entries, only two new games made it into the full price top 40 ranking, with Namcoâs lacklustre R-Racing at number 37, while THQâs Scooby Doo Monsters Unleashed entered at number 35 in the full price listings on its second week on the shelves.

Most of the recent new releases have headed south already: Battlefield Vietnam dropped eight places to number 16, SOCOM II dropped six to number18, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes plummeted from number seven to number 22 on only its second week on sale, Unreal Tournament 2004 similarly went from number nine to number 23, Cricket 2004 sank nine places to number 25, and Deus Ex: Invisible War dropped 12 place to number 34.

Of Square Enix' recent efforts in this market, the EA-published FFX-2 languishes at number 26 already - although the company is likely to be fairly happy with the performance of the title overall - while GameCube title Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles has exited the Top 40 altogether after a rather less impressive run.

For staying power, look no further than GTA Vice City, Crash Bandicoot: Wrath Of Cortex, The Sims, and Medal Of Honor: Frontline, all enjoying extensive stays of 18 months or more in the chart, while no fewer than half of the Top 40 is comprised of titles release prior to the Christmas â03 period — nine of which come from EAâs stable.

Looking at individual format exclusives, the PC and PS2 perform best with no fewer than five titles in the Top 40, the Xbox gets by with a couple of console exclusives (for the time being), the Cube has just the one, as does the GBA in a chart overwhelmingly populated by multi format releases.

This weekâs missing in action candidates included Nintendoâs Pokemon Channel (number five on the GameCube chart), Atariâs pair of Kya: Dark Lineage and Deadmanâs Hand, Empireâs Space Invaders Anniversary, the PC version of Colin McRae 04 and Ignitionâs Archer McClean-developed Pool Paradise.

Later this week, gamers get to vote with their wallets on Acclaimâs Alias and World Championship Rugby, TDKâs Knights Of The Temple, the Xbox versions of Mafia and Unreal II, the cut-price Malice (at long last), Metroid Zero Mission on GBA, and Sonyâs Rise To Honor — and looking further ahead throughout April itâs hard to find any new releases likely to challenge the top dogs in what is shaping up to be a quiet month.