While us PC enthusiasts are busy playing the latest and greatest 3D games, most sales in the PC gaming world tend to come from franchises like World of Warcraft and The Sims. However, new NPD sales numbers published by Shacknews show fancy PC blockbusters topped out U.S. retail sales charts in the week between October 26 and November 1.
Bethesda's Fallout 3 got the most sales, while EA's real-time strategy sequel Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 came in second place, and the collector's edition of Fallout 3 got the bronze medal. EA's Spore managed to come in fourth place, but Ubisoft's sandbox first-person shooter Far Cry 2 followed in the fifth spot. As Shacknews points out, these new releases pushed World of Warcraft right off the charts.
NPD painted a similar picture with its numbers for the previous week, which showed Far Cry 2 in first place and Dead Space in the sixth spot. Maxis and Blizzard titles still got plenty of attention that week, though.
It's not too surprising to see new, hyped-up games sell well, of course, but stagnating graphical requirements and sinking GPU prices could be helping make the PC a better platform for hot new blockbusters. Cheap graphics cards like Nvidia's $115+ GeForce 9800 GT can comfortably handle brand-new games like Far Cry 2 with the eye candy turned up.
- Apple announces king-size MacBook Pro, less DRM for iTunes[87]
- First Windows 7 beta outruns Vista, XP[75]
- Macworld 2009: I don't blame you, Steve[64]
- The Onion: Apple launches revolutionary, keyboard-free laptop[64]
- Etc.[62]
- Our Christmas giveaway has a winner![58]
- Steve Jobs: I'm not dying, relax[54]