Gears tops Live charts

Xbox Live's director of programming Larry Hryb says that Gears of War has finally overtaken Halo 2 and become the most popular game on Microsoft's multiplayer service.

Even with Call of Duty 2 and titles like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter attracting huge crowds in the Xbox 360's early months on sale, Halo 2 has always managed to maintain its position on the top of the pile - and its ousting in favour of a new, 360-exclusive property is likely to be seen as a big deal.

There's a bit of movement elsewhere in the most-played charts, too, with Call of Duty 3 perhaps predictably overtaking Call of Duty 2 to slot in behind Gears, while Contra is the third most-played 360 game amongst connected users, despite the release of Midway's Defender last Wednesday.

You can read what we made of Gears' multiplayer in Kristan's review.