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US PC Charts Mar. 15-21: Empire: Total War fortifies top slot

Sega and Creative Assembly's historical RTS action title retains pole position in the NPD Group's weekly sales recap.

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Sega and The Creative Assembly's Stormrise, which shipped for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this week, is, according to critics, a "broken mess." Luckily for the publisher-developer duo, the much-better-reviewed Empire: Total War remains a top-selling title, as the historical real-time strategy/action hybrid title retained its position atop The NPD Group's PC sales chart for the week of March 15 to March 21.

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Slots two through eight will undoubtedly look familiar to anyone who follows NPD's weekly PC charts. Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King again found itself immediately behind Empire, with WOW: Battle Chest and the stand-alone original placing fifth and sixth. EA's The Sims 2 Double Deluxe and Apartment Life worked their way into the third and seventh slots, while Spore sprouted at eight. THQ's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II continued its strong sales run, placing fourth on the week.

Take-Two and Firaxis' Civilization IV, which enjoyed ample success upon its release for the PC in 2005, slipped back into NPD's charts with a ninth-place finish. Big Fish Games' adventure title Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst rounded out the week's accounting.

Week of March 15 - March 21, 2009*
1) Empire: Total War (PC)
2) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
3) The Sims 2 Double Deluxe (PC)
4) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (PC)
5) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest (PC)
6) World of Warcraft (PC)
7) The Sims 2 Apartment Life (PC)
8) Spore (PC)
9) Civilization IV (PC)
10) Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst (PC)

* The above chart reflects the NPD Group's sales data drawn from a cross-sampling of retailers nationwide. Therefore, it does not include game sales through nontraditional channels such as digital distribution.

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