Humongous takes the lead

Infogrames Entertainment took four of the top five spots on NPD Intelect's latest weekly list of best-selling games, boosted by sub-$20 prices on three of its four top sellers. The publisher's family-friendly game division, Humongous Entertainment, took the lead with Backyard Basketball, its latest cartoon-style sports game. The game, which was released in October, lets players build a championship basketball team, set its positions, and call the plays. It also features junior versions of professional stars Kevin Garnett and Lisa Leslie.

Infogrames' latest turn-based strategy game, Sid Meier's Civilization III, was knocked down to second place from first place the week before, while Electronic Arts' virtual-life game, The Sims, came in at number three. Backyard Football 2002, another value-priced sports game from Humongous, took fourth place, while Infogrames' popular theme-park management game, Roller Coaster Tycoon, jumped back into the top ten at fifth place with a $19 average price after dropping off the list the week before.

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

Best-selling games for the week of November 4-10, 2001:

Rank / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / Backyard Basketball / Infogrames / $17
2 / Civilization III/ Infogrames / $48
3 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $41
4 / Backyard Football 2002 / Infogrames / $17
5 / Roller Coaster Tycoon / Infogrames / $19
6 / Bob the Builder: Can We Fix It / THQ / $17
7 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $29
8 / Aliens vs. Predator 2 / Vivendi Universal / $40
9 / Dark Age of Camelot / Vivendi Universal / $39
10 / The Sims: House Party / Electronic Arts / $28