For the fifth straight week, Blizzard Entertainment's massively multiplayer role-playing game World of Warcraft was the king of retail, according to industry-tracking NPD Group's figures for the week of July 16 to 22. And for the third straight week, it was followed up by THQ's adaptation of the Pixar film Cars and Electronic Arts' The Sims 2, in that order.

　　The next chunk of titles should be familiar to those who follow the charts. A pair of Sims 2 expansions trailed the mother product in fourth and fifth place, while 2K Games' role-playing game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion continues its open-ended journey through the list, finding itself in the six spot for the week. THQ's own RPG, Titan Quest, followed close behind in seventh.

　　Some seminew faces rounded out the top 10, as the "gold" compilation of Atari's hit theme-park simulation game Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 came in eighth, followed by the latest adventure from the famous girl detective Nancy Drew and Star Wars Battlefront II, returning to the list after a one-week absence.

　　Departing the lofty heights of the top 10 this week was a diverse trio of titles. Prey's stint near the top of the charts was a brief one, as 2K Games' sci-fi first-person shooter fell from its fifth place debut out of the top 10 entirely in its second week of release. NCsoft's fee-free MMORPG Guild Wars Factions slipped out of the upper echelon of titles after becoming a fixture there since its April launch. Meanwhile, ValuSoft's Paws & Claws Pet Vet came up lame, missing the cut after finishing ninth for the previous week.