Game News KOTOR II Hits Number 1 Spot

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

The NPD Group has released the best-selling PC games for the week ending February 12 with <a href=http://www.obsidianent.com>Obsidian's</a> Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords landing the top spot, knocking Blizzard's overrated World of Warcraft, The Sims 2, and Half Life 2 down the list.
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<blockquote>1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (LucasArts)
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2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard)
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3. Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal)
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4. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts)
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5. The Sims Deluxe (Electronic Arts)
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6. Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft)
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7. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (Atari)
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8. Zoo Tycoon 2 (Microsoft)
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9. Flight Simulator 2004: Century of Flight (Microsoft)
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10. Galaxy of Games 350 JC (eGames)</blockquote>
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Time to pop the champagne, Feargus.

 

[Screaming_life]

4. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts)

5. The Sims Deluxe (Electronic Arts)

6. Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft)

7. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (Atari)

8. Zoo Tycoon 2 (Microsoft)

Who buys this crap?! WHO?! :shock:

 

[jiujitsu]

The Sims 2 was Saint's favorite game for a while there.

 

[Fez]

The Sims 2 got love here from quite a few folk.

 

[space captain]

hmmmmm... this might be a good thing for RPGs in general - as in more of them getting made

maybe not

 

[LlamaGod]

overrated junk

 

[Sol Invictus]

Sims 2? Decent game. But everything from 5-10 is utterly crap.

 

[Kuato]

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog. ... 36%3A95337

walmart buys a whole lot of games they should call this walmarts top ten list

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Yeah. The first Rollercoaster Tycoon is a phenomenal game. Utterly addicting. Even more so than any fucking Sims title, IMO. But after that, it lost it's magic. RCT 3 is an oooooookay game at best, but it just doesn't have the umph that the first one did.

Okay, so why is Halo still selling? Especially the PC version. I mean.... I loved Halo when it first came out, but the PC conversion totally blew chunks and definitely should NOT still be on any top ten list. :shock:

 

[Jung]

I would've bought HL2 if I didn't come with Steam. Cunts.

 

[Surlent]

Feargus' Slamdunk time.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Yeah. The first Rollercoaster Tycoon is a phenomenal game. Utterly addicting. Even more so than any fucking Sims title, IMO. But after that, it lost it's magic. RCT 3 is an oooooookay game at best, but it just doesn't have the umph that the first one did.

The second one didn't either. All it did was make me play the first one again. I'm not really sure why I didn't like the second one either, but there was something about it that was just off the mark.

 

[Avin]

nice. yestarday i saw kotor 2 for selling here. i'll think about it.

 

[Lady Armageddona]

Everything on the list, xcept both Simses is pure crap. But since when americans have bought sth that isn't?

 

[Elwro]

For me at least the first part of The Sims is crap, too. The most boring game of all time. Even NWN OC kept me interested longer.

 

[Lady Armageddona]

No, the NWN OC is the stupidest part of any game for all time, and you a fucking moron for thingking otherwise, Elwro.

 

[Elwro]

:D

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

The second one didn't either. All it did was make me play the first one again. I'm not really sure why I didn't like the second one either, but there was something about it that was just off the mark.

I think it was due to the fact that it was pretty much just an expansion pack being sold as a sequel. Added nothing really new and innovative to the series. I didn't even bother purchasing it when I got a chance to play a bit of it over at my friend's. It was the same damn game with some new things added. Oooooo... animatronics. Big deal.

Anyways, I didn't mention the second one because is wasn't worthy of being a sequel.

 

[Ekodas]

Okay, so why is Halo still selling? Especially the PC version. I mean.... I loved Halo when it first came out, but the PC conversion totally blew chunks and definitely should NOT still be on any top ten list. :shock:

Yeah, it's weird.

At release (talking about AAA title here) you got big sells during the first month, but you won't sell a million copy (maybe 500K if you're very, very lucky - more if you're Blizzard, but Blizzard is a special case heh). Then, the bulk of the unit sold will happen over time.

For example, check NWN : it took a couple of years to sell a million units (the fanbase will not always buy the game during the first month, but more like during the first 4-5 months - with the exception of the hardcore fanbase, but they're not the bulk of the fanbase).

Ok actually, there's quite a few loopholes in what I just said and things are more complex, but you get the picture :p

Still, yeah I'm surprised too. Probably the release of Halo 2 helped (releasing a sequel often boost the sells of the original title). And Microsoft may have released some kind of 'low price' edition of Halo.

 

[Greatatlantic]

I think Halo's success on the PC is a classic example of cross market advertisement. Halo is considered the best FPS for a console since Golden Eye. I don't play consoles, but this provides some idea of its relative quality. So, the larger console market goes yipidee over this game and the chance to play it with their buds, and it becomes something of a cultural icon, where everybody goes on about how good Halo is. However, compared to the line up of PC FPS, that game is really bad. I don't know if its just the delayed release of a port, but its an above average title at best. Yet, since everybody hears such good things about Halo from the console crowds, they continue to buy it. Its simple name recognition.

 

[Fez]

I remember seeing the old cinematic promotional video of Halo, if they had made that game instead of the one we got, I'd have been happy.

 

[geminito]

KOTOR2 is also overrated... especially as an RPG. It's more of an adventure game with much more inventory and some unimportant stats.

But main-stream audiences like their RPGs easy. Give 'em what they want.

Poor Troika.

 

[Kuato]

"Each spreadsheet lists the title, publisher and intro-date, projected units, projected dollars (for the quarter and YTD) and average selling price of each software title sold through retailers participating in NPD's Video Games Software Sample in the U.S."

walmart is probbably the npd groups biggest source for info just look at their site

http://www.npdfunworld.com/funServlet?n ... index.html

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Front page of NPD:

1. Top 5 PC Game genres:
   
2. Life Simulations
3. 1st Person Shooter
4. Real-Time Strategy
5. Children's Games
6. General Adventure

Wow. RPGs are worse than children's games and "general adventure". Sam & Max, where are you now?

That article talking about console vs PC sales is frightening. If only Troika had released a console port of Bloodlines...

 

[Greatatlantic]

If only Troika had released a console port of Bloodlines...

I'm willing to bet that was in the back of their heads, since the interface is the type that would have little trouble be converted to console. However, they couldn't release this game on PC before HL2, to protect Valve's own project. Is it not reasonable to think no console title can be released using Source before Valve releases their own port?

"Because the console market has become such a big generator of revenue, more and more publishers seem to be shifting their business away from the PC, or at the very least are including console titles when they used to be PC-only. "I think there already has been [a shift]. Definitely, there were publishers that had most of their business on PC and they made a real concerted effort to go into the console space," Frazier told GameDAILY BIZ.

Publishing for the PC does have its advantages, though. "Because of the platform fees, the margins aren't as good. That's why those [PC] titles despite their lower numbers can be really, really profitable. They still have to be 'AAA' content... but just the console platform fee alone makes the economic picture different for those games," said Frazier."

Hmmm... I think what PC gamers want to hope for is a monopoly of some console who then jacks up the platform fees to such a level that the PC looks awfully tempting. I mean sure, there is a lot of bug testing, but as the new technology engines mature and become more stable, there is going to be less to worry about, I think.