Over the years, investors have increasingly relied on Amazon.com charts to provide them with an idea of how new video games are performing.  This morning, THQ Inc. is up around 10% on what appears to be excitement over their new game offering, uDraw for the Wii, rising to Amazon's top 10 as the #2 title on the Wii since its release two days ago.  THQ admitted during their last conference call that their third quarter relied heavily on uDraw's performance calling it one of two "key titles" for the holiday (the other being WWE titles).  However, hitting the top 10 in Amazon's chart might be a breakthrough.

Or it might not.

It's important to note that in the entire month of October, Ubisoft's Just Dance 2 ranked at number 7 on Amazon's overall bestseller chart.  Yet, it sold around 286,000 copies according to NPD.  That's not bad but it is not groundbreaking if that type of number were to apply to a new release.  Investors would be wise to note that the title ranks #33 on the Wii at GameStop.com and it's listed as the #10 Wii title at WalMart.com.  On Amazon, the top selling Wii title continues to be Just Dance 2, suggesting uDraw may be selling less than that title, which is now in its second month.

Of course, THQ may have risen based on valuation, excitement over its March 2011 release Homefront, or a number of other factors.  Nevertheless, uDraw's Amazon ranking may or may not be the breakthrough investors are looking for after digging into the Amazon charts more carefully.

Disclosure: author has opened a short position in THQ