Round-Up: PC Charts, Death Jr. Costumes, Kuma History

Today's round-up includes NPD's top-selling PC titles for the week of October 1, a new line of Death, Jr. Halloween costumes, and a partnership between Kuma Reality Games and The History Channel, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - The NPD Group has released its list of best-selling PC games for the week October 1. Blizzard's popular MMORPG World Of Warcraft was the top selling PC title for the week, followed by THQ's Company Of Heroes. Electronic Arts' Glamour Life expansion for The Sims 2 ranked third in overall PC sales for the week, while the core game itself ranked fourth. Recently released strategy title Caesar 4 ranked fifth on the chart, followed by LucasArts' Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and EA's Sim City 4 Deluxe. NCsoft's Guild Wars Factions was the eighth on the weekly chart, while PC sales were rounded out by THQ's Cars Radiator Springs Adventures and Blizzard and Vivendi's Warcraft III Battle Chest. - Independent game developer Backbone Entertainment announced the release of an original line of Halloween costumes based on the Death, Jr. series of games and comic books. Adults can choose from a Death, Jr. or Grim Reaper costume, while teen sizes are available in Death, Jr., Pandora, and Smith and Weston outfits. Standard masks are available for all costumes except Pandora, whose wig and black and purple tights can also be purchased separately. Currently, 100 limited edition Death, Jr. and Pandora masks have also been released. “The popularity of the franchise and the dark-humored character styles make Death Jr. perfectly suited for costumes, accessories and party products,” said Mike Mika, Studio Head of Backbone Entertainment’s Emeryville location. The costumes are currently available for purchase exclusively at Buycostumes.com. - Episodic war game publisher and developer Kuma Reality Games has announced a new partnership with The History Channel to develop gaming and television content. Starting on November 3 with the launch of the second season of The History Channel series “Shootout!”, Kuma will release video games online simultaneously, allowing audience members to watch the show and then play a 3D game re-creation of the episode. The “Shootout!” television show examines and re-creates some of the most famous gun battles in history using 3D CGI animation sequences. Beginning with the November 3 season premiere, viewers can log onto The History Channel website and download the Shootout! game for free. Episodes of the game are based directly on three episodes of the series, Iwo Jima, Battle of the Bulge and the Tet Offensive. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a look at the World of Warcraft boardgame, a Tetris-themed British music video, and a new newsgame that lets you be an oil god. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes a feature on how to be a game journalist. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Serious Games Source includes news of a $50 million grant for children and digital education and a game design and development competition hosted by Games for Health. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Artificial Studios, Blue Shift, Juice Games, Media Molecule, Menache, and THQ.