World of Warcraft tops Nielsen PC usage chart

World of Warcraft remained the most-played PC title in the US in March, according to the latest data from Nielsen Games. However, Second Life exceeded the game in terms of the average number of minutes played per week.

Blizzard's market-leading title is the only traditional MMO game in the top ten, but at 46.7 per cent it dominates the list in terms of the percentage of total minutes played compared to the rest of the top 100. By comparison, virtual world Second Life has a percentage of just 3.2 per cent, although its total for the average minutes per week is higher - at 760 (12 hours, 40 minutes) to 653 (10 hours, 53 minutes).

Third in the list is first person action game Dark Messiah of Might & Magic with 582 average minutes per week, followed by Take-Two's expansion pack Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword on 668 minutes and PopGames' Bookworm on 169 minutes.

Nielsen has also updated its home console usage chart for the month, with the PlayStation 2 remaining the most popular format with a 22.0 per cent total. The Xbox 360 was in second place on 21.2 per cent, followed by the Wii on 17.9 per cent and the PlayStation 3 on 10.3 per cent.

The full top ten of PC game titles for March, ordered by the percentage of total minutes played, is as follows:

• 1. World of Warcraft (46.7%)
• 2. Second Life (3.2%)
• 3. Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (3.0%)
• 4. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2.7%)
• 5. Bookworm (2.3%)
• 6. Half-Life 2 (2.2%)
• 7. Civilization IV (2.1%)
• 8. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (1.7%)
• 9. Chessmaster Challenge (1.7%)
• 10. Starcraft (1.7%)