In the world of sales figures, America and Japan have commonly been seen to dominate the market - which is why so many games nowadays seem to cater to those markets. There's nothing but big muscles and spiky hair - not a Brogue-wearing businessman in sight.

Or, at least, that used to be the case. Japan it seems is no longer the market leader it once was, with the UK growing it's gaming market to become the nation with the second-biggest gaming market ever.

According to GfK ChartTrack, a sales-tracking firm that monitors retail games sales across the world, the UK's games sales have risen by more than 37 percent compared to January 2008, with total software sales rising by 26 percent. What recession, eh?

That said, it's important to consider the number of factors here - such as the fact that a lot of games and platforms are released early in Japan, so customers over their will have already got over the sales spurt bought on by the release of the DSi. Thus, while the UK is still steadily improving, Japan is actually in decline according to a ChartTrack spokesperson.

“Japan is certainly in decline at the moment, mainly down to the fact that everyone seems to have already bought a DS or PSP, so hardware sales aren’t driving software sales – although DSi is flying off the shelves," a spokesperson said to MCV.

"The very sudden decline of PS2 is also a factor. The Japanese market is about twice the size of ours, so there is room for manoeuvre in terms of people who had a DS four years ago and want a new handheld.”

Have you been buying more games than usual? Let us know what you think in the forums.