These are the real top games of 2008

by Justin McElroy on Jan 20th 2009 6:45PM

Who cares which games Joystiq lovingly selected as 2008's best? The only games that count are the ones chosen by George Washington and Ben Franklin, and we don't mean Imagine Founderz. We're talking about the top-selling titles of the year. By combining some platform-spanning SKUs, MTV came up with what it thinks is the most accurate top 5, more so than the one released by the NPD earlier this month.

The top slot is still held by Wii Play, but we think you'll be surprised by how the other four positions shake out. See the full list right after the break.
Top-Selling Games In The U.S. For 2008

(All versions combined. Units in millions)

1. Wii Play 5.28
2. Madden NFL '09 5.25
3. Grand Theft Auto IV 5.22
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel 5.00
5. Call of Duty: World at War 4.63

Source

Tags: best-of-2008, DS, npd, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, top-5, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (58)

uh oh

that fernando guy is gonna be pissed mario kart wii didn't outsell grand theft auto 4 (at least not the entire time he said it would)

world at war is freaking insane. considering the wii version was poopy and didn't even help break a million. thats very impressive for only a few months

WHAT ARE YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT?!?

*FART*

Coming from NYC: the Rastas, Italians, Russians, Albanians, Irish, Asians and the Afro-Americans among the rest of the races -oh, and the Hispanics Especialy in the Bronx APPROVE GTAIV.

I don't know how this game can be left out of ANY top 10 list in 2008.

A game like this should either be hated or loved.. You HAVE to mention this game in any conversation dealing with the top games of 2008. EVEN if it's negative. To not even mention it is plain stupid on oneself and questions oneself credibility.

"ahem"..

id love a copy of Imagine Founderz as well.

God I hate the Wii and the stupid wiimote. All the Wii iterations of Nintendo-made games suck compared to the previous (except perhaps SSBB, not surprisingly the one game that uses regular controls instead of waggle) and now they ruin the top 5 lists while they're at it. Mario Kart Wii is an abomination, a complete slap in the face to any hardcore Mario Kart fan... and Wii Play was just bad.

Interestingly, this reminds me that I originally thought the dual screen + touchscreen on the DS was a gimmick and it turns out to create a platform for phenomenal games. On the other hand I originally thought the Wiimote would make for amazing games, and instead it turns every game that would require skill and precision into a casual waggling suck-fest.

Nah, you can add Brawl to that list. Melee was far superior (with the exception of a mediocre single player campaign and the inclusion of Pokemon Trainer and *maybe* Solid Snake.)

I've been saying for a while now that they should make a Mario Kart Hardcore game. It's clear that they've given up the Mario Kart franchise to the casuals completely at this point, so why not let the kiddies have their auto-assisting powerslide, uber lap gaining power-up version and also make a version that could be considered more of a real racer for fans of the original couple MK games?