World War II Online debuts at number three

Strategy First's massively multiplayer online game World War II Online took third place in its first week of release, according to NPD Intelect's latest list of best-selling games. Though the game has been a success in terms of sales, the actual game experience has been hampered by a number of problems including hardware compatibility issues, unusually large patch sizes, and optimization difficulties in the first weeks of the game's launch.

Electronic Arts' virtual life game The Sims took first place again this week, followed by its second expansion pack, The Sims: House Party. Ubi Soft's adventure game sequel Myst III: Exile dropped from third place into fourth this week, followed by Black & White, the innovative god game from Electronic Arts.

The Sims games dominated the latest monthly sales chart as well, with The Sims and its two expansion packs taking three out of the top five spots. Black & White came in at third place, followed by Myst III: Exile. Other notable entries on the monthly list include Tropico, GodGames' island management strategy game, which came in at ninth place in its first month of release; EA's Sim City 3000, which bounced back onto the list at number 17 at an average price of $19; and GodGames' first-person shooter Serious Sam, which came in at number 18.

The lists below rank games according to the number of units sold. To see a list of games ranked according to GameSpot review score, visit our 6013054Top Games page .

Top-selling PC games for the week of June 3-9 2001

Rank / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $42
2 / The Sims: House Party / Electronic Arts / $29
3 / World War II Online / Strategy First / $40
4 / Myst III: Exile / Ubi Soft / $38
5 / Black & White / Electronic Arts / $42
6 / The Sims: Livin' Large / Electronic Arts / $29
7 / Pearl Harbor: Zero Hour / Simon & Schuster / $17
8 / RollerCoaster Tycoon / Infogrames / $27
9 / Age Of Empires II: Age of Kings / Microsoft / $44
10 / Diablo II / Vivendi Universal / $39

Top-selling PC games for the month of May 2001

Rank this month / Rank last month / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / 1 / The Sims: House Party / Electronic Arts / $28
2 / 3 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $40
3 / 2 / Black & White / Electronic Arts / $41
4 / * / Myst III: Exile / Ubi Soft / $41
5 / 5 / The Sims: Livin' Large / Electronic Arts / $29
6 / 6 / RollerCoaster Tycoon / Infogrames / $26
7 / 7 / Sim Theme Park / Electronic Arts / $20
8 / 8 / Age Of Empires II: Age of Kings / Microsoft / $44
9 / * / Tropico / GodGames / $37
10 / 10 / Diablo II / Vivendi Universal / $38
11 / 4 / Tribes 2 / Vivendi Universal / $42
12 / * / Myst III: Exile Collectors Edition / Ubi Soft / $57
13 / 12 / Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 / Electronic Arts / $39
14 / * / Backyard Baseball 2001 / Infogrames / $18
15 / 9 / Lego Island 2 / Lego Media / $21
16 / 13 / Hoyle Casino 2001 / Vivendi Universal / $29
17 / * / Sim City 3000 / Electronic Arts / $19
18 / 15 / Serious Sam / GodGames / $18
19 / 11 / NASCAR Racing 4 / Vivendi Universal / $42
20 / 16 / Age Of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion / Microsoft / $30