By Rob Crossley
Microsoft’s Larry Hryb has posted on his semi-official blog the twenty most-played Xbox 360 games in 2008, with Halo 3 topping the list ahead of Call of Duty 4 and GTA IV.
After a few days of number crunching, says Hryb, Microsoft was able to determine through unique user data which games had been played online the most. “Last year was a great year to be an Xbox 360 gamer as is evident by the quality of titles that Xbox LIVE members were playing,” he adds.
What’s slightly confusing is that Gears Of War 2 is one place above its predecessor, despite being released eleven months into a full year of Gears 1 deathmatches. It is perhaps for this very reason that Call of Duty: World at War sits in sixth while its beloved predecessor holds second behind Bungie’s epic.
The first game down the list that doesn’t feature shooting mechanics, Guitar Hero III, sits in seventh, three places ahead of MTV’s Rock Band.
The data also implies that Battlefield: Bad Company was the most popular demo of 2008, closely followed by Ubisoft’s the Force Unleashed.
For a game that sold so disappointingly, EA should find encouragement that the Mirror’s Edge franchise certainly holds an allure for its target audience; the game’s demo sits in twelfth, six places ahead of the once-highly-anticipated World at War Multiplayer Beta.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has also compiled a list of the best-selling Live Arcade titles of 2008, fortunately using the less ambiguous data of purchase figures. Surprisingly, The Behemoth’s buggy co-operative scrolling fighter Castle Crashers tops the list, a single place ahead of the sequel to Live Arcade’s breakthrough title Geometry Wars.
Jonathan Blow’s much-adored indie financial risk Braid fortunately finds the comfort of being the third most-popular Live Arcade title, while Capcom’s Street Fighter HD (which remains a 360 exclusive in Europe) jumps to sixth.
Most-played Live Titles of 2008 (based on unique user data).
1. Halo 3
2 . Call of Duty 4
3 . GTA IV
4 . Gears of War 2
5 . Gears of War
6 . CoD: World at War
7 . Guitar Hero III
8 . Battlefield: Bad Company (Demo)
9 . Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Demo)
10 . Rock Band
11 . Fable II
12 . Mirror’s Edge (Demo)
13 . Madden NFL 09
14 . Battlefield: Bad Company
15 . Rainbow Six Vegas 2
16 . UNO
17 . Castle Crashers
18 . CoD: World at War (Multiplayer BETA)
19 . Forza Motorsport 2
20 . Too Human (Demo)
Live Arcade Top Sellers of 2008 (based on full-copy purchases).
1. Castle Crashers
2. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
3. Braid
4. A Kingdom for Keflings
5. UNO
6. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
7. Fable II Pub Games
8. Duke Nukem 3D
9. Bionic Commando: Rearmed
10. Worms
11. SOULCALIBUR
12. Portal: Still Alive
13. DOOM
14. 1942: Joint Strike
15. Bomberman Live
16. Mega Man 9
17. N+
18. World of the Battlefield: Commando 3
19. Marble Blast Ultra
20. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
