The new year festivities may be over, but there is still some time for reflective stat crunching if you're Xbox Live's resident cheeky chappy, Major "Major Nelson" Nelson. The Nelsonator has revealed 2008's top Xbox Live successes, charting the major games played over XBL and purchased on Live Arcade.
If you like indie, then this was a good year on XBLA. Castle Crashers topped the chart, followed by Geometry Wars 2, but it's the fact that Braid is in third place which warms my heart. This is the type of game you'd have expected to fail, especially with Microsoft deciding to hawk the price up. I find it encouraging that a game of Braid's caliber can actually get into a sales chart at all, let along take third place.
As for Xbox Live play, Halo 3 unsurprisingly takes the lead, followed by Call of Duty 4 and GTA IV. The list is more or less a lineup of the usual suspects, so it needn't be a shock.
The full list of stats come after the jump, just in case you really love numbers.
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
Call of Duty 4
GTA IV
Gears of War 2
Gears of War
CoD: World at War
Guitar Hero III
Battlefield: Bad Company Demo
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo
Rock Band
Fable II
Mirror's Edge Demo
Madden NFL 09
BF: Bad Company
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
UNO
Castle Crashers
COD: World at War Multiplayer Beta
Forza Motorsport 2
Too Human - Demo
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
Castle Crashers
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Braid
A Kingdom for Keflings
UNO
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Fable II Pub Games
Duke Nukem 3D
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Worms
SOULCALIBUR
Portal: Still Alive
DOOM
1942: Joint Strike
Bomberman Live
MEGA MAN 9
N+
Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3
Marble Blast Ultra
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.
Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
Halo 2
Fable
Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
Counter-Strike
Fable: Lost Chapters
Doom 3
Conker: Live Reloaded
Splinter Cell Chaos
SW: KOTOR
SW: Republic Commando
Star Wars: Battlefront
Burnout 3
Guilty Gear XX #Reload
Gauntlet Seven Sorrows
Call of Duty 3
Ninja Gaiden Black
Crimson Skies
MechAssault 2
Call of Duty 2
Rainbow Six 3
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
17 comments | showing # 1 to 17
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
10:30 AM on 01.05.2009
| 
Sometimes I feel guilty when I can't love a game that I know is brilliant..how weird is that?
Hell, its even in the Top10 of Steam and D2Drive charts.
Awesome-sauce.
You mean "last year" right?
List is ranked by #number of unique users,
not ranked by time played.
Not to take anything away from KoK (haven't played it yet) but is it fair to assume Avatar support helped out it's sales significantly?
Seriously, is anybody else as mad as I am about this?