Exclusive: Halo 3: ODST Tops Most-Wanted Xbox 360 List

Bungie Studios' standalone expansion Halo 3: ODST tops the list of most-wanted Xbox 360 games, says research group OTX -- but it only barely edges out Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2, which seems to have a slightly more dedicated audience, according to data given to Gamasutra by the analysis firm. Showing the power of franchises in game awareness, both titles are direct followups to the most recent releases by their developers; ODST to the main Halo 3 game, and Modern Warfare 2 to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The data, as provided by OTX's GamePlan Insights business intelligence tool and delivered to Gamasutra, was drawn during March and April of 2009, with the division's parent company OTX polling 1,000 gamers across numerous demographics on a weekly basis. While ODST technically leads the pack in purchase intent, Modern Warfare 2 is extremely close behind, and with nearly a quarter of Xbox 360 gamers calling out the titles, they both far exceed any other Xbox 360 games, none of which reach 15 percent. And Modern Warfare has considerably higher preorder intent, reflecting a somewhat more dedicated audience; that figure represents the proportion of planned purchasers who say they will put advance money down. The 20 games with the highest levels of purchase intent among the Xbox 360 audience are as follows. 1. Halo 3: ODST (Bungie Studios) 2. Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward) 3. Madden NFL 10 (EA Tiburon) 4. Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix) 5. Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft Montreal) 6. BioShock 2 (2K Marin, 2K Australia) 7. Mass Effect 2 (BioWare) 8. NCAA Football 10 (EA Tiburon) 9. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Uncaged Edition) (Raven Software) 10. Fight Night Round 4 (EA Canada) 11. Need for Speed: Shift (Slightly Mad Studios) 12. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (Ubisoft Montreal) 13. Fallout 3: Broken Steel (Bethesda Game Studios) 14. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios) 15. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion (Vicarious Visions) 16. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (EA Tiburon) 17. Tekken 6 (Namco Bandai) 18. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA DICE) 19. The Beatles: Rock Band (game only) (Harmonix Music Systems) 20. Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Terminal Reality) The following chart of the first ten games on the list also illustrates levels of preorder intent among those who have already indicated general purchase intent: Notably, ODST is the only Xbox 360-exclusive title on the list; by contrast, the upcoming PlayStation 3 top 20 includes several first-party games exclusive to its platform. (However, a few of the titles on the Xbox 360 list are in development for PC but not PlayStation 3.) Final Fantasy XIII's inclusion at number four is impressive since, unlike other top 10 games, it is not expected to ship in 2009. The 12th-place Splinter Cell: Conviction, which has a vague fiscal year release period projection, is the only other listed title not publicly planned for 2009. Further data on the most anticipated PlayStation 3 and Wii games will be published on Gamasutra in the coming days.