PC download charts: 'Skyrim - Dawnguard,' 'Borderlands 2'

PC download charts: 'Skyrim - Dawnguard,' 'Borderlands 2'

Buoyed by over a year's worth of regular 75% sale discounts on the original Borderlands, its sequel can count on six million players already familiar with Pandora's bold world of bandits and monsters.

Gearbox Software is promising a far larger gamespace to ransack, along with greater customization options for players and a more detailed armory of weapons to collect, with the same sort of trope-trolling humor beloved by fans of the original.

Skyrim expansion Dawnguard was released as an Xbox 360 download on June 26.

With its PC and PS3-owning faithful waiting to received their own versions after a projected 30-day wait, developer Bethesda moved to quash excitement on July 27, stating that neither announcement nor timeline had been given for alternative platforms.

Perhaps that was as a result of quality control issues -- with Dawnguard eventually made available to download on PC on August 2, the PlayStation 3 equivalent will be kept back a while longer while Bethesda tidies up some performance issues.

On Gamersgate, canny bargain hunters found a good crop of better B-games -- titles which may have lacked the sort of budgetary and marketing power that Skyrim and Borderlands might enjoy, but nonetheless exhibit their own charm and ingenuity, with Two Worlds II and Alpha Protocol widely considered to be particularly rewarding for those prepared to show a measure of curiosity and understanding.

Steam* (steampowered.com)
1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard (new entry)
2. Borderlands 2 (0)
3. Arma II: Combined Operations (-2)
4. Orcs Must Die! 2 (+1)
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (re-entry)

GameStop Impulse (impulsedriven.com)
1. The Secret World (0)
2. Borderlands 2 (new entry)
3. The Sims 3 (+7)
4. Sins of a Solar Empire - Rebellion (+2)
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard (new entry)

GamersGate (gamersgate.com)
01. The Last Remnant (re-entry)
02. Dungeon Siege III (re-entry)
03. Titan Quest Gold Edition (re-entry)
04. Two Worlds II Game of the Year (re-entry)
05. Alpha Protocol (re-entry)

Green Man Gaming (greenmangaming.com)
1. Darksiders (re-entry)
2. Red Orchestra 2 (re-entry)
3. Darksiders II (0)
4. Borderlands 2 (-3)
5. Guild Wars 2 (re-entry)

GOG (gog.com)
1. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (0)
2. Legend of Grimrock (0)
3. The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition (+1)
4. Uplink: Hacker Elite (+1)
5. Torchlight (+1)