January 4th 2009 6:00 pm PT

So i can only assume that the top arcade titles will be added to Arcade’s Greatest Hits now?

Thanks for the list. It would be cool if you had an iphone optimized site.

thanks for the list major

Is Halo 2 supposed to link to Halo 1 on the marketplace?

A shame N+ is so much lower than some of those other titles, it’s the best game of 2008 (in my opinion)!

Not sure i like the concept of having a top title by unique user. Just because more people tried a game, doesnt mean it should be considered a top title..

Is a game considered a failure if the demo shows up and not the full retail version like battlefield bad company?

Battlefield, is Number 14

Battlefield is Number 14

3 cheers for Bungie!
Certainly a good year for all, and it pleases my heart to see Geometry Wars 2 in 2nd place.

Oh, missed it. how about too human.

how can uno be 5th on the xbla chart but the highest on the “all games” chart? that is just confusing? :S

@ Radical R. More people played it this year than bought it, I assume the XBLA only includes people who purchased those titles in 2008.

Glad to see the love for Braid.

Woohoo! R6: Vegas 2 is up there!

….Strange 3 demo’s were up there without the corresponding full versions, though.

Fallout 3 didn’t make it????? uh!!!!

Might be interesting to compare standings with release dates also?

Looks like people are getting sick of the buggy Gears of War 2 and going back to the Original…no surprise.

im amazed gears 2 got up that high considering how late it came out

i knew cod waw wouldn’t be on top for long multiplayer is a disapointment to me.

Castle Crashers FTW!

WoW… very interesting. Quite a few demos on there, with the game nowhere to be seen. And where is fallout 3 ?

what the hell? Too Human demo? Seriously?

oh my bad, that’s the whole year

Those stats just make no sense.
LIVE games
16 UNO
17 Castle Crashers

Then in Arcade
1 Castle Crashers
5 UNO

How can games that just came out in Nov/Dec. be up near the top of the list as well?

Is this not total plays/connections for the year? Or is it Highest Number of Connections/users at one time?

It’s nice to see Rock Band on the list. It’s a shame that the Bad Company demo was played more than the full game because it was actually a really good game IMO.

Ark Hunter, the first list is based on number of Unique Users that played those games throughout the year. The second list is based on number of Sales (full versions), hence the difference between some of the rankings in the lists.

Wooohooo! Vegas 2 made the cut! It’s still a loved game

As for the list, I’m not really surprised by anything on it. My three favourite games of the year (Burnout: Paradise, Rock Band 2 & Left 4 Dead) are all missing which sucks but there’s some great games on the list.

I don’t see how you can call this the top games of 2008 list. Considering for the count, if I only had 1 IP address the whole year – you would only need to have been connected to Live and played the game once. I am surprised there aren’t more demos on the list.

I’m really happy to see Battlefield: Bad Company on the list. It really is a great game and mostly has been underated in 2008.

Glad to see Halo 3 still on top, when it’s an ’07 game; that game has most replayability I had ever seen.
Too bad Burnout: Paradise wasn’t on there though.

Its interesting The Demos of game titles that were going to big did better then the final product, most likely due to the fact people played the demo and thought man this game is not so good as i was hoping.

So many on there make me go :O

Ouch, surprised not to see Rez or Ikaruga up there, although it has many masterpieces like Castle Crashers, Braid, Megaman 9…

I just can´t wait to see the XBLA titles of the next year ;D

I wouldn’t be surprised if Halo 3 and COD4 remained at top 2 or 3 throughout 2009 as well =) And when COD6 is released in november, alot will play that too. And Halo 3: ODST which’ll be out in september/october probably.

Lool fable 2 flopped ..but still, it did come out late october….and the games lacking abit :S

Fascinating! Thanks Major.
The fact that 25% of the top-20 titles are demos should be useful metrics for publishers. I don’t think it’s a telling concern if the final retail version doesn’t show up. By definition the top-20 samples people playing while connected to Live, where you actually download the demos. I’m sure a large number of people buying and playing discs don’t bother to stay signed in all the time.

Where is the Xbox Live Activity fo this week?

Perhaps chosen not to show it this week as Gear 2 likely dropped even further down the list.

Mmmmm.

Cool list. Not too shocking except people are still hella into Halo 3? Everyone i know keeps telling me how bad it is, and just never play it (never did though).

Wait a second. How is Halo 3 the top live game of the year when CoD 4 was at the top of the weekly live reports for most of the year and was only recently knocked down?

GOW 2 in 1 month >>>>> GOW 1 in 12 monts?

Halo 3 Own

There’s something fishy there COD:waw has been above Gears 2 every week except the first and its below it overall

I love how everyone complained about braid’s price yet paid it. Am I the only one who held true to boycotting $15 arcade games?

@Spargo CXVII

You don’t have to sign in to live to play fallout 3 so i’m guessing that would be why it isn’t up there.

Lemon 5: The people you talk to are sorely mistaken. At least give the multiplayer a try.

THIS LIST IS BASED ON UU’s. Every time a different IP logs into one of the games, it is recorded.
The arcade list is based upon how many purchased full versions were played, where the overall list takes into account the fact that demos are played too.

Halo 3 is still King

*flails arms*

interesting post.
I do love CoD4 and GH3.

COD4 has been topping Halo 3 WAY MORE! For almost a year it was on 1# and Halo is on top…this list is crap GOW2 on top? GOW1 top? and its better then W@W? and it has been beating GOW2 for more then a month! as GOW 2 has been 1# for 1 week and since then #3 or 4# place it gotten to! did you know the 3 games on the top (GOW 1,GOW 2 AND HALO 3) are all published by Microsoft!

Kinda strange that COD4 has been (mainly) at the top of each weeks list for the year and yet Halo 3 is top of the all year list. Maybe its just this last month and a bit that WaW has been out that H3 has managed to make up the numbers to overtake COD4? Im pleased for it though, and COD4 for being beastly games.

Can’t really believe that Gears 1 has beaten COD5? I know Gears 1 has been available all year and that COD5 has only had a month and a bit to make up its numbers, but that just goes to show how many ppl musta played it week in week out all year with the likes of Halo 3/COD4/GTA4 around (+ other gd games) to get to where it is given its been out 2 years now! Good stuff Epic…not just fix Gears 2 multi!

It funny that Bad Company demo was higher than the actual game!!

I was wondering something Major Nelson. If you were to merge the 360 and XBox lists, would Halo 2, Fable, and possibly even Star Wars: Battlefront 2 be on the top twenty? Just wondering. Good to see BF:BC and R6:V2 on the top twenty list.

Having those demos listed makes for some interesting conversation, I guess, but why bother listing them among full retail games? They’re demos! They’re free. On top of that, the Arcade list makes the “full versions only” distinction. I’d like to see what should really be in those last five slots.

LOL

I guess everyone who played Gears 2 missed the Shotgun in Gears 1 and went right back to it.

Braid is garbage.

Where are the real good games on that list? Catan? Carcassonne?

I agree, where is the love for Carcassonne(By far most epic multiplayer puzzle game ever, I mean when you lose by one point because of postgame scoring, the words start flying lol.) and Catan? I guess to many people these days are only interested in the hyped(Braid, Nukem,Keflings,pub games) or violent(Castle Crasher, and almost every other on the list), I say go Worms, N+, Marble Blast, and Portal, showing that there is still a puzzle audience left in this community.

Oh and Kudos to Mega Man 9, pure epic, makes me feel like a kid again.

Also I guess the free games(Aegis Wing, Dash for Destruction, and Yaris(Bad memories)) Don’t count right?

halo 3 numero uno!!!1

I’m wondering now if the list records Unique Users based on IP addresses (which is what the Wikipedia article implies) or by Gamertags (which would make more sense as a measurement to me).

If it goes by the number of unique Gamertags that logged into Live on each game throughout the year, that could explain how some games seemed to be ahead during certain weeks but not overall for the year.

For those confused about the list, it is total unique users during 2008. Example figure – Halo3 had 5 million different people sign on and play during 2008, while COD4 had 4 million, so H3 is on top.

Week-to-week, maybe all 4 million COD4 players played, while only 3 million (out of the possible 5 million) played H3 – so COD4 goes on top of the weekly list for that week.

Are you use #9 is the demo and not the actual game? Yikes!

What happened to the Community Games?

How was Left 4 dead not on the list, yet it won best multiplayer game of the year in the OXM?

Hmm, after looking over this list I am wondering if the Ninja Gaiden II Demo, Burnout Paradise Demo and Retail and Lost Planet Colonies Retail, Poker Smash games made the charts at all? And where does Alien Hominid HD fit in though it was released in 2007, but ‘upsold’ via Castle Crashers in 2008?

The numbers make pretty good sense to me…Halo 3 and COD4 went back and forth for most of the year, which would imply the numbers were “close” every week, and then when WaW came out the COD4 numbers took a major hit, while Halo 3′s stayed constant. H3 fans will always play Halo, but a lot of COD4 fans at least tried WaW, even if they went back later. I do think there should be a “popular demo” list, though, leaving the top 20 games to actual games played. It just doesn’t seem fair to knock a game like Fallout 3, Grid, or NCAA Football 09 off the list to make room for free demo games that almost everyone downloads, but that only get played a time or two. A better stat would be to track TIME played by UU on a certain title, which would give more credit to a game that was actually played, rather than one a million people downloaded and played once.

Are you sure that’s the TFU demo and not TFU itself? Ouch.

“A better stat would be to track TIME played by UU on a certain title, which would give more credit to a game that was actually played, rather than one a million people downloaded and played once.”
That would work- except for the fact that some people may play longer. One game can have 5 million people playing one hour a week, and another can have 3 million 2 hours a week. That doesn’t reflect the popularity of the title- it just says some people play some games longer.

Wow, 5 Star Wars titles overall on all the lists. That’s gotta suck for the other games. Heck, KOTOR made the list, and it only had one downloadable map, and Republic commando made the list, and it’s multiplayer was considered sucky, yet enough people still played it…

Reason TFU demo is up there because you download the TFU demo on live, we haven’t had much of a chance for TFU downloadable content just yet. I guess a map pack does count though so that is /kind/ of sad.

This list is flawed. There’s no way Keflings is that high when Street Fighter HD had more sales every week.

Goes to show: the few of you who haven’t tried either Halo 3 or COD4, buy them now. Ignore the mindless Halo hate. It’s still the best shooter on Xbox 360.

I still want to see a merged list again. I realize why they separated the Xbox and Xbox 360 lists (because for a long time Halo 2 was on top of the list–beating out GoW–and it’s kind of embarrassing for a last gen game to be on top) but I would really like to see a merged list as well. I want to know where the old Xbox games stand relative to 360 games.

1 Halo 3
4 Gears of War 2
5 Gears of War

I love these games !

Gears 2 FTW!!

Fallout 3?

I have never figured out how people can play the same game over and over. Sure, I played Call of Duty a lot (November 07 – April 08) but than I got sick of it and stopped playing it. The fun should eventually come to an end, everything else just doesn’t make much sense to me.

I love Amar.

” The fun should eventually come to an end”
Why? I’ve only bought 9 games in my life: halopc, halo2, halo 3, fable1, fable 2, rome total war, medieval total war, age of mythology, gears of war.
Still play them on a regular basis and I’m still enjoying them.

Way to go Halo 3!

Fallout 3 can’t be played on Xbox Live hence it not being on the list.

The majornelson website should track the top 20 xbox live titles every week

@dirty whirlwind
Myself and other friends who do not play sports games wonder the SAME thing about guys who HAVE to have the ‘NEW’ Madden or ‘NFL’ or ‘NBA’ – basically the same game with an updated roster, textures and a few more animations – all for $60 each time. But the only answer we have is like ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, “The game is fun to whom enjoys it.”

I can’t believe how quickly Gears 2 and COD 5 climbed the ranks. They are good games, so I guess everyone owns them.

Nice to know that I own all the Top 5 games on this list. I guess I only play the best of the best.

Anon33: And I’m glad you can have that enjoyment. For me though, I always want fresh air. Even if fun is the most important factor for a game I do seek a more fresh type of intriguing experience, something that you could discuss with your friends on a deeper level. You know, when you go to the movies and afterwards you go to a fine dinner to eat warm hot apple pie and discuss the movie you just witness. That kind of experience is what I’m looking for in a game as well, to have a complex talk about the interesting and unique aspects of a game you just played. I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I don’t get that from Halo 3.

Warrengonline: Yeah, you’re right. It’s not that I dispatch people for doing that. But yeah, unless there is something more substantial to it than new rosters and such I’m on the same line as you. Although I can see people getting the new Madden to not lose track on the community aspects of the game. Nowadays online can be a major factor in sport games, and with every new release the old one gets closer to their expiration date. Although, I did get tired of this years Madden real fast and won’t be getting a new one until the dawn of the next generation consoles (that is, if EA don’t leave stuff behind like they did with the 360-version of 06).

Wtf. No Street Fighter Anniversary Edition.

I LOVE HALO3 DONT LIKE COD4 OR WAW

Keep in mind, this is not a list of the *best* games, but a list of the games being played most. And yes, I would think that if a game shows up being played as a demo, but not the full-version, it means that people learned from the demo that they didn’t want to play it. Mirror’s Edge was that for me… the demo showed me what it was about and that it didn’t interest me. Not a value or quality judgement, just not my type of game. I saw the same thing from watching someone else play Fallout 3 – the freeze-frame aiming and shooting just seemed lame to me.

XNA community games please!

Wow I don’t see Saints Row 2 or Left 4 Dead and Gears 2 in 4th place wow.

how did gears 2 and gears 1 beat cod waw… if gears 2 mp got fixed it could easily contend with halo 3 and CoD 4(and 5 when its released) but in till then we will take our licks

I’d bet that TimeSplitters: Future Perfect would be on that list if the backward compatibility were added. I heard Microsoft complain that nobody was using the b/c, and I say: of course! No one is going to use it if you don’t make great games compatible! Bring me the ORIGINAL Xbox Live Arcade disc and all Free Radical games!

@ anon 33

Thats more like 5 games.

Loved the expanded list. Gives it more depth. Like to see that on an ongoing basis.

Would you mind ammending your post to include how this data was gathered? I find it difficult to believe that Mirror’s Edge Demo had more “online” play than Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Madden 09, or CoD 5 even.

Is this simply data from what games people played while connected to Xbox Live? In that case, the heading should read: “Top 20 Games” and that’s it. As, obviously you can’t collect game data on people who aren’t connected to Live.

Doesn’t make any sense?

take that call of duty

padilla21 Live

How can you say take that call of duty? When Call of Duty shows up 3 times on that list.

I think its awesome Halo 3 is still on top. Go Halo!

Do you people not read?

THIS LIST IS BASED ON UU’s. Every time a IP plays a game, it is recorded. This means more INDIVIDUAL IP’s played Halo 3 then any other game this year- while being signed onto Live. Please read before you comment about how the list is flawed. It’s not.

LONG LIVE THE KING BABY!!!!!! HALO 3 IS ON TOP!!!!

hows the view from down there cod suckers??!?

Long live the King. Long life to Halo 3.

Halo 3 is the best game of 2007 and even to this day, especially for online multiplayer. But Call of Duty 4 is no slouch, and is easily my second favorite.

I really would have thought COD4 would have been in the top place over halo3. This is based on people playing on XBL rather then units sold right?

It must be cod 4.

3 Demos in the top 20 with the actual games not making the list. People want to know what the biggest disappointments of 2008 were? Its right there: Star Wars the Force Unleashed, Mirror’s Edge, Too Human. My purchases are heavily influenced by demos and reviews. While I did like Force Unleashed, Mirror’s Edge was a disappointment. This shows that I don’t always agree though: the demo for Dead Space and Braid showed that those games were not for me (obv not in some ridiculous Souljah Boy way).

Anyway, surprises on this list: No Left 4 Dead, WaW making it that high, and Forza 2 still on the list.

Hopefully publishers won’t get wise and decide not to do demos for fear of people actually making an INFORMED decision and not buying the full game. I wish for it actually meaning that they need to really figure out what people will buy before spending the $$ only to see it flop (Too Human)

I THOUGHT BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY WOULD PLACE HIGHER ON THE XBOX 360 LIVE CHARTS. AND I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE PEOPLE WERE STILL PLAYING HALO 3 THAT MUCH IN O8″.

I Dont actually think that R6V2 was very good on live, even though it was very good on single player.

WOW…

HALO 2 & 3 OWN ALL!!!

Halo 3 Epic, COD 4 Slightly Less Epic … a lot of people played TFU and Mirrors Edge Demos a lot 0_o

halo 3 is still the best. I dont know why people even play cod4 05 5. also, braid is the best xbla title all year.

Wow, Halo 3 came out in 2007 and is still top in 2008!

w00t for bungie.

the reason uno is in the most played but not top is cuz its done in a stupid way. The arcade game table is done by how many are sold. And the games table is done by how many different people play the game. Not taking into account how long they played it for.

I wonder what it would look like if you included total play time from everyone. I gues that would be a bit difficult to work out

Thanks for the great list! I’m sure Gears of War 2 will be higher by next year since it wasn’t out most of the year.

I’ve been a diehard fan of the Halo series for quite some time. However, I fear that the only reason Halo 3 is at #1 is due to second-account boosters. Does anybody else fear that this may be possible?

Well its good to see Halo 3 pull ahead of Call of Duty 4. I am not suprised in the least.

Well its good to see Halo 3 pull ahead of Call of Duty 4. I am not suprised in the least.

@52:
I thought that too but since the list is about ips and not gamertags thats not the case… i mean i can play halo 3 with many accounts but its the same ip for everyone.

What happened to burnout paradise?