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US PC Charts Mar. 1-7: Empire wages Total War on retail

Both standard and collector's edition of Creative Assembly's strategy title debut strong; Warhammer Online resurgent.

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The NPD Group's weekly US PC retail sales charts typically change little from one reporting period to the next, as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft franchise jockeys for position with EA's Sims catalog. Such was not entirely the case for the week of March 1-7, however, as a pair of debuts, a resurgent massively multiplayer online game, and a resilient strategy title disrupted NPD's business-as-usual chart.

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Sega and Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War made a dominant debut, as the standard edition topped NPD's chart while the collector's package slotted in at seventh. Perhaps riding the introduction of two new playable classes, Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online surged from nowhere to third, appearing just behind Blizzard's perennial chart-topper World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

THQ and Relic Entertainment continued their strong sales run with Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II securing fifth, having been edged out by The Sims 2 Double Deluxe. The Sims Carnival: Bumper Blast replaced SnapCity from a week prior, landing in the sixth position, while Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising posted an eighth-place debut. Blizzard's WOW and WOW: Battle Chest rounded out the week's chart.

Week of March 1 - March 7, 2009*
1) Empire: Total War (PC)
2) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
3) Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
4) The Sims 2 Double Deluxe (PC)
5) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (PC)
6) The Sims Carnival: Bumper Blast (PC)
7) Empire: Total War Collector's Edition (PC)
8) Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising (PC)
9) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest (PC)
10) World of Warcraft (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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