http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/01/04/the-top-20-live-games-of-2008.aspx


The Top 20 LIVE Games of 2008

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. After a few days of number crunching, here are the top games for 2008 based on Xbox Live connectivity.


Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
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 BF: 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


Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
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 Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3
19 Marble Blast Ultra
20 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.



Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
1 Halo 2
2 Fable
3 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
4 Counter-Strike
5 Fable: Lost Chapters
6 Doom 3
7 Conker: Live Reloaded
8 Splinter Cell Chaos
9 SW: KOTOR
10 SW: Republic Commando
11 Star Wars: Battlefront
12 Burnout 3
13 Guilty Gear XX #Reload
14 Gauntlet Seven Sorrows
15 Call of Duty 3
16 Ninja Gaiden Black
17 Crimson Skies
18 MechAssault 2
19 Call of Duty 2
20 Rainbow Six 3





WOOT!!!!!!

OG Rainbow Six 3 (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/r/rainbowsix3/default.htm) is still in the top 20!!! I love that game

I might play that for a little bit later to see who else is online...

Did your game make the cut?

It would suck to develop a game and then be beat out by a demo. Ouch.

Let me get this straight. More people played the Mirrors Edge demo than Madden NFL '09? I find that hard to believe.

Let me get this straight. More people played the Mirrors Edge demo than Madden NFL '09? I find that hard to believe.

More people played online than Madden.

yeah, given that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miliion silver and gold members as of recent announcement, I can see a lot of people downloading the demo and probably deciding to see if it's worth $60 of their hard earned money of not. With Madded, you know what you're getting year in and year out for $60, it has it's own hardcore following

Let me get this straight. More people played the Mirrors Edge demo than Madden NFL '09? I find that hard to believe.That's not exactly what those rankings mean. It just means that more people ("unique users") downloaded the ME demo than logged online for Madden 09. That's not at all surprising and doesn't really mean anything.

That's not exactly what those rankings mean. It just means that more people ("unique users") downloaded the ME demo than logged online for Madden 09. That's not at all surprising and doesn't really mean anything.

Then why post it? If the rankings don't truly represent what people are playing on Live, what good are they to even release?

I know people that play NOTHING but games like Madden and never go on Live (don't have a Gold account). I don't understand them personally but hey. ;)

It's travesty that N+ is that low. It should be number 3 or 4 for arcade.

Then why post it? If the rankings don't truly represent what people are playing on Live, what good are they to even release?Because for whatever bizarre reason, gamers love "top ten" lists. Comes from watching too much Letterman, I guess.

I know people that play NOTHING but games like Madden and never go on Live (don't have a Gold account). I don't understand them personally but hey. ;)

I can name a good 8-10 friends.. that have only Arcade 360s.. with Madden and NBA Live.. and only play against each other in the same livingroom.

They have been that way since the 90's..

I personally brought my wifi adapter & harddrive home with me over the Xmas holiday just to update their 360's to the NXE.

WOOT!!!!!!

OG Rainbow Six 3 (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/r/rainbowsix3/default.htm) is still in the top 20!!! I love that game

I might play that for a little bit later to see who else is online...

Did your game make the cut?

I started Xbox Live gaming in 2002 with Rainbow Six 3. That's where I met all my core group of gaming friends / clan. We played EVERY night for a couple of years, then played the sequels together all the way up to Vegas 2.

What's funny is that one of our friends never left Rainbow Six 3, if you can believe it. He plays it regularly, still has a clan going on the original Xbox. He never bought a 360. Since 2002 this dude has been playing pretty much nothing but Rainbow Six 3 on original Xbox. 7 years of the same game almost every day. Now, THAT'S what I call replayability!

It would suck to develop a game and then be beat out by a demo. Ouch.

How about developing a game, then having the demo of the game massively beat the retail version of the game. Check out Battlefield: Bad Company in the list.

Left for Dead should be on the list. May not be the best graphics, but it is the most fun. They should have a list of the "Most Fun" games.

That seems correct. I was a heavy COD4 player for about 6 months straight. Went through two wireless remotes. lol. It's amazing how Gears of war 2 and COD:WAW is up there. They were only out in November of 08!! Now, Im a Gears 2 freak!!! Especially with HT setup its even better!!

Demos should be on their own list, arcade games are. Comparing demo-to-demo stats and game-to-game stats are much more appropriate than mixing the two.

Anyone else notice that since NXE there have been a lot fewer demos and game videos put out?

I also just realized - this says "Xbox Live connectivity", so this doesn't even give us (for games) a good number on how many people actually played them against/with others online, just that they were signed into Live while playing it themselves. So for this, I'm counted in Fable II's total even though I've never played with another person.

yeah, given that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miliion silver and gold members as of recent announcement, I can see a lot of people downloading the demo and probably deciding to see if it's worth $60 of their hard earned money of not. With Madded, you know what you're getting year in and year out for $60, it has it's own hardcore following

I think that the number is actually 17 million. I know it was 12 million or close to that last year (2007). But that makes sense, play the demo, and if you like it buy the game. too Human demo made the top 20, but less than half million actually bought the game. Madden 09 has sold almost 2 million.

Demos should be on their own list, arcade games are. Comparing demo-to-demo stats and game-to-game stats are much more appropriate than mixing the two.

Anyone else notice that since NXE there have been a lot fewer demos and game videos put out?

I also just realized - this says "Xbox Live connectivity", so this doesn't even give us (for games) a good number on how many people actually played them against/with others online, just that they were signed into Live while playing it themselves. So for this, I'm counted in Fable II's total even though I've never played with another person.

I agree, having a demo's section and being able to "rank" it by popularity or recent offering would be great! heck being able to rank anything based on total Live subscribers would be cool but even cooler would be to rank based on either who downloaded it on your friend's list, or based on your played games list (meaning same games means they have a better chance of suggestion a game that you would enjoy etc)

I think that the number is actually 17 million. I know it was 12 million or close to that last year (2007). But that makes sense, play the demo, and if you like it buy the game. too Human demo made the top 20, but less than half million actually bought the game. Madden 09 has sold almost 2 million.

damn! 17 Mil is a lot. There's some noobs out there!