US PC game charts: June 18-24

Perhaps riding the wave of publicity from the latest Pixar movie, the game version of Cars parked into the No. 1 spot a week ago. But this week was a return to familiar terrority: Blizzard's World of Warcraft, a best-seller since its release in November 2004, hurdled over Cars to reclaim the top spot once again, according to data from research group NPD Funworld.

World of Warcraft also vaulted over Half-Life 2: Episode One, which dropped one spot to No. 3 this week, in the number of games sold at retail. But the actual number of copies of Episode One sold is higher than what the NPD figures depict. Episode One is also available for purchase on Valve Software's popular digital distribution client, Steam, yet NPD sales charts only account for boxed, retail purchases--not digital downloads.

Still, the budget-priced Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures, rated E for Everyone, showed resiliency, holding the No. 2 slot. It debuted two weeks ago in third place before taking last week's pole position.

Anchored in fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, were a trio of Sims games--The Sims 2, The Sims 2: Family Fun Stuff, and The Sims 2: Open for Business. The bottom four saw a coterie of role-playing and strategy games shift places, but none were bumped off the list. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion jumped to No. 7 from eighth place, while Heroes of Might & Magic V skipped back two spots to ninth.