Civilization III takes first and second place

Infogrames' latest turn-based strategy game, Sid Meier's Civilization III, took the two top spots in NPD Intelect's latest weekly list of best-selling games. The standard edition of the game came in first place, followed by the Civilization III Collectors Edition in second place. Civilization III is the latest game in the popular Civilization series, and it includes a number of improvements on the previous games, such as better graphics, more diplomatic and trade options, and improved combat.

Microsoft's zoo management game Zoo Tycoon jumped into third place on the list with an aggressive average price of $23, more than $10 off the average retail price when it first shipped in mid-October. Fourth place went to Electronic Arts' popular virtual-life game, The Sims, followed by Mythic's online role-playing game, Dark Age of Camelot, in fifth place.

Other notable entries on the list include Westwood's real-time strategy game expansion Command & Conquer Yuri's Revenge, which slipped from second place to seventh; Sierra and Fox Interactive's action game Aliens Versus Predator 2, which debuted in ninth place after a partial week of sales; and Microsoft's online role-playing game expansion, Asheron's Call Dark Majesty, which slipped to 10th place after appearing in first place the week before.

Two notable absences from the list are Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Blizzard's popular role-playing game expansion, which has placed in the top 10 best-selling games since its release in June.

The list below ranks games according to number of retail sales. To see a list of games ranked according to GameSpot review score, visit our Top Games page.

Best-selling games for the week of October 28-November 3, 2001:

Rank / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / Civilization III / Infogrames / $49
2 / Civilization III Collectors Edition / Infogrames / $60
3 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $23
4 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $40
5 / Dark Age of Camelot / Vivendi Universal / $38
6 / Stronghold / GodGames / $34
7 / Command & Conquer Yuri's Revenge / Electronic Arts / $27
8 / Flight Simulator 2002 / Microsoft / $70
9 / Aliens Versus Predator 2 / Vivendi Universal / $44
10 / Asheron's Call Dark Majesty / Microsoft / $20