Castle Crashers tops XBLA chart for '08

Halo 3 takes multiplayer crown.

News by Dan Pearson Contributor

Updated on 5 Jan 2009

In a fit of festive good cheer, in no way inspired by self-promotion, Microsoft has released figures for the most played Live and Live Arcade titles of 2008.

Colourful side-scrolling blast Castle Crashers earned developer The Behemoth top spot, despite the multiplayer problems experienced by the title at launch. The patch to remedy these problems finally hit XBLA on Christmas eve.

The slash'emup beat several other fan favourites to the fairy's spot on the tree, including critically enthused Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Braid. Curiously, despite support for these titles being quite vocal during the voting process for both readers and writers top 50s, Castle Crashers featured nowhere in either list.

Halo 3 rose from its temporary nap underneath the bed of Call of Duty 4 to take the crown for most played multiplayer Xbox Live title, despite both games hitting the shelves in 2007. Representatives of 2008's produce included Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War and GTA IV

In terms of successful demos the clear winner was EA's jocular death-fest Battlefield: Bad Company, followed by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Here's the full rundown.

Top Xbox 360 Live titles for 2008: