Hot Date rules November

November was a good month for Electronic Arts, as the publisher took the top three spots in NPD Techworld's latest monthly list of best-selling games. EA's The Sims: Hot Date virtual-life game expansion sold the most copies last month, followed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, EA's adventure game based on the popular J.K. Rowling fantasy novel of the same name. The Sims itself took third place, followed by three Infogrames games: Backyard Basketball, Humongous' latest family-friendly sports game; RollerCoaster Tycoon, the perpetually top-selling theme park management game; and Civilization III, Sid Meier's latest turn-based empire-building game.

EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin, Sony's latest online role-playing game expansion, took the top spot in the first week of December, despite high system requirements and some problems during launch. According to Sony, the game sold more than 120,000 copies in its first day of release, making it one of the biggest PC game debuts in history. Harry Potter took second place, followed by Hot Date, Backyard Basketball, and The Sims to round out the top five.

The lists below rank games according to retail sales. To see a list of games ranked by GameSpot review score, visit our Top Games page.

Best-selling software for the week of December 2-8, 2001:

Rank / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin / Sony / $30
2 / Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Electronic Arts / $29
3 / The Sims: Hot Date / Electronic Arts / $28
4 / Backyard Basketball / Infogrames / $18
5 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $43
6 / RollerCoaster Tycoon / Infogrames / $17
7 / Survivor: The Interactive Game / Infogrames / $17
8 / Return to Castle Wolfenstein / Activision / $53
9 / Backyard Football 2002 / Infogrames / $18
10 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $28

Best-selling software for the month of November 2001:

Rank this month / Rank last month / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / * / The Sims: Hot Date / Electronic Arts / $27
2 / * / Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Electronic Arts / $28
3 / 3 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $40
4 / * / Backyard Basketball / Infogrames / $18
5 / 5 / RollerCoaster Tycoon / Infogrames / $19
6 / 4 / Civilization III / Infogrames / $45
7 / 14 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $28
8 / * / Backyard Football 2002 / Infogrames / $18
9 / * / Bob the Builder: Can We Fix It? / THQ / $16
10 / * / Survivor: The Interactive Game / Infogrames / $18
11 / * / Return to Castle Wolfenstein / Activision / $57
12 / 8 / The Sims: House Party / Electronic Arts / $28
13 / 9 / The Sims: Livin' Large / Electronic Arts / $27
14 / * / Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon / Ubi Soft / $43
15 / * / Empire Earth / Vivendi Universal / $48
16 / * / RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes / Infogrames / $19
17 / 13 / Sim Theme Park / Electronic Arts / $19
18 / * / Backyard Baseball 2001 / Infogrames / $19
19 / 6 / Diablo II: Lord of Destruction / Vivendi Universal / $32
20 / * / Thomas Playset / Infogrames / $39