US PC game charts: June 11-17

I wish my car had a face and personality.....wait maybe not, I hate my car. I once kicked it for not giving me my keys back.

Trust me, PC gaming isn't on the decline. The amount of people that play games on a PC has been relatively stable. However, the console gaming population is exploding faster than China and India combined. Of course, if the Xbox'ers could see beyond the shallowest layer of numbers, they'd see that PC gaming is no worse off (number wise) now in 2006 than it was in 2000.

Everyone's already bought the good games, of course.

Funny. Cars on top. Funny.

Not surprised at all. Already used to with the casual gaming fluctuations.

booooooooooooooooooooooooo

Cars? dumb kids

I expect that episode one will be doing better. I at least hope it is...

Blizzard is making around 1 Billion dollars a year from WoW's monthly subscriptions alone... Also what do consoles have to do with this at all? The list is for PC retail box sales.

Why!! Why!! ....... am I NOT surprised :P. Goes to show the parents (adults) have more money than their children. Oh yeah. I have "cars" on my PS2. my kids love it.

I wish some ppl had taste

Holy crap, did you even read the article people? ACCORDING TO RETAIL SALES! THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE STEAM SALES and probably direct2drive. PC gamers aren't in trouble; in fact, they're ahead of the pack by skipping crappy checkout lines or waiting at the #*%*& electronics section of wal-mart for an hour before being helped. I say poor console gamers that have to get a ride from their mom so they can go to wally-world, all because they don't have a credit card to buy things from Steam. So there... um, yeah I make no sense.

:) just goes to show that its casual gamers that buy the products not hardcore "i player a hundred hours a day" types. You can imagine the quite large number of mams and dads that went out and bought little timmy cars game. goes to show it will be the console that appeals to casual gamers which will win the next war...

poor pc gamers

That's a little embarrasing if you ask me.

RaiKageRyu, "never say never"

benrinehart23, if you really just called the Wii a cheesy piece of garbage, then I'm sorry but you have no opinion here anymore. Tell me, have you played the Wii, if not shut up. If you have, then thats your own narrow minded opinion.

... Cars.... *sigh* It'll pass... -_-

"WOW that 360's going strong. Next gen what a Joke. Can't wait for PS3 then I can play some real games instead of carbon copies." Tell me, where in this article did you even see the word Xbox? Such a typical fanboy. I doubt that a game such as Cars will outsell anygame at all for very much longer.

It's HL2 Episode 1... The expansion... That's not 2 years old. And there are no 360 games there because it'a list of PC games...

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

Usually happens when a film tie-in comes out. And to those who seem to think "PC is gone"... "no" The PC offers features and qualities and a very nature that can't be replaced by consoles. Go on Steam and look at the Counter-Strike Source server-list. Be mind-boggled by the numbers.

Bad list. Well, the summer time is an all around bad season for video games...

Guys, the REASON why a not extremely popular game is on top for the week is SIMPLE. Most of the games on that list are rather OLD, and/or have most of their sales through direct downloads, which the chart specifically says are NOT counted. And, Cars is BRAND NEW, and the movie it is based on JUST CAME OUT. So, it is understandable that sales have jumped for the time being. This is not some big "1ts t3h 3nd 0f g4m1ng 4s w3 kn0w 1t!!!" event, it is just pretty basic economics. Next time, read and THINK ABOUT the article before you start freaking out.

Cars in first place (CMON PEOPLE!!!!!) but the sims are still in good shape.

Wow! Didn't expect Age 3 to be there.

7-year-olds can make bad gaming decisions too.

WOW, PC gaming is in deeeep trouble

this proves that pc gaming is for 11 year olds lol. (IM JOKING FOR THOSE WHO DONT REALIZE THIS)

What you guys dont get is that its only days 11- to 17 meaing Cars sold slighty more through those days then HL2, you guys act like Cars outsold it for the whole freaking month.

Cars?! beat WoW, HL2, Oblivion and the Sims 2?!!!!!

Oh, forgot to mention that the sales chart should start including direct downloads as it will become more and more a part of a publishers sales numbers. It could also help with visibility for some games from minor publishers that are only available in that fashion but have strong sales nonetheless.

Think people kinda missed the article about PC games actually toping the overall gaming sales chart. The only reason SOME games a more expensive on PC right now is because publishers have dropped the price on regular console games this year because they can`t sell them. 2006 has yet to release a core game for the console (GTA, Halo and company - - liberty stories doesn`t count). As for the 360 versions they are heck of a lot more expensive than PC. Don`t believe me. Go to ebgames.com and type PREY as an example. PC version reg ed. 49.99$, xb360 version reg edition 59.99$. To top it off, the demo of Prey that I played is heck of a lot better than the HD films that I have seen for the xb360. But we have the same discussion every five years when a next-gen console is released. Ooooo...it`s the end of the PC...ooooo. Wake up for god sake. The issue at hand as for as the chart is concerned is that there is litterally a lack of new innovated games on the market. Thus people tend to just stick to what they already know. WoW, Sims and Half Life. Its no suprise that Cars is number 1 (well...ok a little bit). But I believe it reflects on what the industry is releasing these days. Everything is pushed to this fall. Look at July and August....not much there as well. Kids are outta school, people have time off during the summer. Don`t they realize that they could do a lot more sales if they split some of their releases between now and the fall. Do they realize that people just can`t afford and play everything at once? This is for both PC and console games. Wish there were actually gamers at the head of these companies and not guys that from canned goods that have never picked up a controller in their lives. Of course its all IMHO... :)

It will not take much time before "cars" will go off the charts and go in the bottom of the list.

Wow, that's pretty impressive that HL2:E1 is on the list, considering that probably 75% bought the game via Steam, which Valve doesn't release numbers for (and which is also the reason why sales charts are pretty stupid since they don't tell the whole story, yet many people think they're golden...just look at some of the idiotic responses here).

And then casuals rised and conquered the hardcore gamers world. What do you complain about? There are a few million HL freaks and hundred million casuals. Farewell~~!!

Cars:|

If you guys still have your silly doubts about the PC sales chart, just buy the Cars game yourself. You'd probably be more surprised. E-rated games aren't just for kids, you know. Ever heard of Katamari Damacy or Kingdom Hearts, I wonder? Geez..... I just wonder if you guys ever considered about the world outside of blood and gory violence. And then this thing comes up. Total shock to your system for you all, eh? Seriously. You people are so ridiculous these days...... XD

I can't believe cars is at the top!

All things considered, a pretty good list. I'm especially glad to see Heroes of Might and Magic V selling so well. Episode One is doing great as well. Cars is a good racing game for kids, and it's based on a very popular movie, so I don't see what's so surprising there.

Well Half Life 2 has been out for like 2 years so of course cars would beat them, but it makes you wonder if NPD can really keep track of ever singal unit sold. Notice that Oblivion is still on the top ten charts.........

Woot, something else on top for once. Saddly, I don't really play PC games.

NPD's PC charts are based on the volume of boxed copies of games sold at retail, and do not include games that are digitally distributed. you understand why cars is listed number one ,you all stupid.half life 2 is by far number one,you all have to learn how to read before making stupid coments like pc is dead.Pc is eternal.

Just cause it's cars, just cause it's rated E for everyone, you guys mock and laugh? What if it is a good game? I thought we were trying to get over the fac that games had to be violent or flashy to be good ( I am pointing my finger directly at Nintendo fans in this case). Anyways, the movie has been doing well and that usually means a lot of families will be picking it up. Hope it's good though.

Lol, cars

Cars beat HL2? Of f**king course! HL2 is out, dead, finished. Cars is new, fresh. So what cars beat HL2. Its just good. Stop being such nerds

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA CARS!!!!!!

cars beat hl2 and WoW? weird!

PC games in the long run always cost more than consoles. I've been to many gaming retail shops and I always look over all their games that they have including thier price. And I have noticed something: PC games take forever for price drops and usually its not by much. Plus, the hardware required to keep up is a little too costly with the fast tech upgrades were seeing this age. Also, PC games will always be less stable than a console game; too much work to get a game running and then crashing. And, because most people don't really understand requirements that fit thier own PC's. People generally stay away to buy games from them because thier afraid it won't work once they try to run it. That's WHY commercial games for the PC are on the decline... HOWEVER, online games and free games(flash, ROMs, pirated) are on the rise for it. So PC gaming will never be gone but it will never be mainstream ever again either.

cars eh..