Major Nelson reveals top 20 Xbox Live games and arcade downloads

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 4th 2009 at 7:00PM }

Well, that was entirely unexpected. How, in a year chock-full of incredible Xbox Live-enabled releases, did Yaris manage to not only be the most downloaded XBLA title of 2008, but also place first on the annual Xbox Live activity charts? We could have sworn that those accomplishments would have gone to Castle Crashers and Halo 3, respectively! What's that? They did, but we thought we'd distort the truth because we haven't made a Yaris joke in a while? Oh, thank God.

Yes, Major Nelson recently released the final Xbox Live statistics for 2008 -- Halo 3 dominated the overall Xbox Live activity chart (followed by CoD 4 and GTA IV), and Castle Crashers was the top downloaded XBLA title of the year (in front of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Braid). We've got both of the totally unsurprising lists posted after the jump, as well as the top Live titles from the original Xbox, the winner of which will straight-up blow your mind.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU's)

Halo 3
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
Battlefield: 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

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU's)

Halo 2 (WHOOOOA!)
Fable
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Counter-Strike
Fable: Lost Chapters
Doom 3
Conker: Live & Reloaded
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: 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

Tags: castle-crashers, halo-3, major-nelson, xbla, xbox-live, xbox-live-activity

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Markez (Anti-Panda Death Murder Squadron) @ Jan 4th 2009 7:08PM

Nice screenshot for the article :P

T @ Jan 5th 2009 9:33AM

What I want to know is if it's possible for Yaris to actually look that good.

Orionsaint @ Jan 4th 2009 7:09PM

No wonder I can't find anyone playing Switchball multiplayer.

rTwelve @ Jan 4th 2009 7:09PM

WHOOOA!

rTwelve @ Jan 4th 2009 8:18PM

Great, like there was a need for porn.

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 4th 2009 8:28PM

LOL WUT? Check those links again, boy

rTwelve @ Jan 4th 2009 8:31PM

I'll pass.

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 4th 2009 8:53PM

aww come on! At least when you saw the tinyURL you thought "Thats a RickRoll with Robos theme overlaid" or "That obviously lemonpoarty" or even "Thats definitely a french pop star dancing in skimpy clothing". With Wiinterfangs link, it could've been anything! And sadly, it was.

ice~ @ Jan 4th 2009 9:51PM

Moptimus Slime...I HATE YOU

Rollins @ Jan 5th 2009 3:19AM

Didn't shock links that were actually pornographic go out a few years ago?

In any case, that sort of bullshit shouldn't be posted here and I'd love to see the banhammer come out. That sort of thing isn't helpful or funny. It's just stupid.

playwhutyalike @ Jan 5th 2009 9:36AM

I can't stop staring at the second one. Grandpa?!?!?

Michael Bakshi @ Jan 4th 2009 7:10PM

Hmm, I thought Yaris made the top 20. It was a great game, come on guys! It should at least be in top 5 tier in Arcade titles!

Steve @ Jan 4th 2009 7:13PM

I ended up getting a Yaris the other day for a rental car. It turns out that the game depiction is fairly accurate, at least in my experience.

No cruise control FTL! For shame Avis!

Eli Gundry @ Jan 4th 2009 7:44PM

Are you being serious? If so, shame on you Toyota! Buy American!

Mister Servo @ Jan 4th 2009 8:21PM

I own a Yaris and I love it.

I named him Petey the Pirate cause it's a Yhaaaaaaris.

...:D

Chris @ Jan 4th 2009 7:21PM

Wow, nice to see Battlefront 2 is still getting tons of play, I might have to pop that back in.

Still hoping for a 3rd installment for the 360...

Rollins @ Jan 4th 2009 7:26PM

People seriously play the Xbox Counter-Strike? Holy shit.

GundamWingEW @ Jan 4th 2009 7:28PM

Perhaps I should get Battlefield Bad Company from eBay right now? It should be pretty cheap no?

However I'm currently interested in getting Dead Space as well. Watching those animated comics on Youtube has convinced me that the game is special so I'm willing to try it out...

GundamWingEW @ Jan 4th 2009 7:42PM

Wait Griffin is that a typo regarding Too Human? Did you mean the DEMO or the full game?

If it's correct that's kinda funny...more people are playing a demo than the actual game online. Actually that's a shame...

Strike Man @ Jan 4th 2009 11:03PM

Actually, it would be fairly logical that a demo would rank higher than the full game. One requires a few minutes of download time, the other requires an expenditure of $60.

For the record, also take notice that the demo versions of Battlefield Bad Company and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed also outperformed their retail counterparts in this list. Hell, even though Force probably sold well over a million copies on the 360 alone, the full retail version isn't even in the top 20 list. The only game on that list where the demo was dwarfed by the full version of the game is the new Call of Duty, whose "beta" was only available to a limited number of people until its final days before release.

Also keep in mind that these are the unique users playing the games while CONNECTED to XBL, not necessarily people playing the games ON XBL with other people. Semantics, but worth noting.

ifalldownstairs @ Jan 4th 2009 7:51PM

Poor Too Human. So much hype for such an awful game. When I downloaded the demo I couldn't believe how crappy the game was. Didn't it break a the record for the number of first day downloads of a demo at the time? I wonder what place the full version got.

The Dark Wayne @ Jan 4th 2009 8:13PM

I dont understand the original xbox list, it was several games that didnt have multiplayer components or even DLC

time @ Jan 4th 2009 8:24PM

if you play the games while connected to live it counts, even if there is no multiplayer function.

Otis @ Jan 4th 2009 8:17PM

1. Shooter Sequel
2. Shooter Sequel
3. Sandbox Sequel
4. Shooter Sequel
5. Shooter
6. Shooter Sequel
7. Music sequel
8. Shooter Sequel Demo
9. Action game in a franchise
10. Music game
11. Action RPG Sequel
12. First Person Platformer-ish demo
13. Sports game sequel
14. Shooter Sequel
15. Shooter sequel
16. Card game
17. Action/Beat em up
18. Shooter Sequel Demo
19. Racing Sequel
20. Action RPG Demo

and this is why I frigging hate this worthless generation.

Shadsy @ Jan 4th 2009 8:28PM

But they're GOOD sequels. I'll take Halo 8 over a terrible original IP.

Jacksons @ Jan 4th 2009 8:48PM

Are you mad at the limited spread of genres or that they're all sequels? With how much some games develop the characters these days, I'd be pissed to never have sequels.

Moptimus Slime @ Jan 4th 2009 8:56PM

"But they're GOOD sequels. I'll take Halo 8 over a terrible original IP."

you mean Mirrors Edge?

Jcarpio @ Jan 4th 2009 9:40PM

Actually I like this generation, mostly because of the list of arcade titles. that list either expanded my list of genres played (worms/bomberman) or brought back memories (retro games).

inteller @ Jan 4th 2009 10:34PM

preach on brother! I'm a Live "outcast" because I don't play the shooter dreck that is force fed down my throat by these companies.

Otis @ Jan 4th 2009 11:35PM

Boggles my brain why anyone would downvote me. Well, not really. It makes sense. As someone said before, people in this fandom are terrible.

Anywho, it's the over-focus of multiplayer, and less genre spread. Worst yet, this is the best we have. The 360 is the best we have. What the hell. The PS2 was better than this with only two years in, and the 360 has had 3. What. The. Hell.

Though, I guess it's all rosey if you only want to play simplistic arcade games, online shooters, and really dig them HD visuals.

DON'T GET ME WRONG. I don't hate all the games this gen. I just think it's severely lacking in variety. I mean, I have a 360, and only a 360 (at the moment. I've had a Wii, sold that) and I play it a ton. But I'm less that satisfied with this generation. Much less.

Sumada @ Jan 5th 2009 2:25AM

As much as I agree, take it with a grain of salt. It's based on games people have played while on xbox live, and people are way more likely to be online playing an online game then online playing an offline (single player) game.

That being said, I could use a bit more variety. Some people may say "better a good sequel then a bad original IP" but personally sometimes I'd rather play a new IP that's interesting and original, even if they mess some stuff up, then the same old games.

OnToGlory @ Jan 5th 2009 2:42AM

First off, nice to see Marble Blast Ultra getting some due; great game both single and multiplayer. One of the first XBLive Arcade titles too.

@Otis:

Well, what genres or games are you looking for but not finding? Of course the list is riddles w/sequels - that's what gaming has been for decades now. You still get great new IP's but whether it's Mario, Zelda, Gears, Metal Gear, Tetris you're still getting sequels all the time. They are what is familiar and popular and that's what people often want. I'll take a new Metroid any day, please (2D on the DS, is that too much to ask, N?)

Anyway, I love the variety on the 360 - been bouncing among Banjo (original), Gears 2, NHL 09, Civ Rev, Uno and GH2. That's some pretty good games and variety right there. Gears 2 campaign is pretty awesome, by the way.

What are you looking for? Promise you it's easy to find on the 360.

Vidikron @ Jan 5th 2009 3:36AM

"Anywho, it's the over-focus of multiplayer, and less genre spread."

Protip: You're looking at a list of games with online components (i.e. MULTIPLAYER).

There are other games out there you know, they just won't be on these lists if they don't have an MP component.

Otis @ Jan 5th 2009 6:45AM

Variety is not one, two, or even three games in a genre. Variety is 6-10 or so good games in various amounts of genre.

"Hey, there's two platformers! TWO! TWOOOO! VARIETY! And we even got THREE DDRs!"

"Protip: You're looking at a list of games with online components (i.e. MULTIPLAYER)."

That's not true. It counts any game multiplayer or not. As long as the person has an internet connection active to their 360.

"There are other games out there you know, they just won't be on these lists if they don't have an MP component"

There's frigging things ON this very list WITHOUT multiplayer components.

Vcize @ Jan 5th 2009 10:26AM

Otis, I don't think you understand how this list works. It's most PLAYED games. By definition, a game with a popular multiplayer mode is more likely to make this particular list. It's not rocket science in figuring this out.

You can take the best single player non-rpg you can dream up, and it won't last a thousand hours, which many multiplayer shooters do. That's just the nature of this list.

But hey, if you want to play Shadow of the Colossus for 1000 hours, more power to you. At the same time, I garantee you a game like that wouldn't have made the list for the PS2 most played games either, so you don't really have a point.