Top Xbox Live and Live Arcade Titles in 2006

If you were wondering what the most popular Xbox Live Arcade and most-played Xbox Live games in 2006 were, then wonder no more, as Xbox Live’s Director of Programming, Larry Hyrb, or ‘Major Nelson’ has just released the top twenty lists for both.

See what you think:

Top Twenty Most-Played Games on Xbox Live
1. Gears of War
2. Hexic HD
3. Call of Duty 2
4. Ghost Recon 3
5. Oblivion
6. PGR3
7. Perfect Dark Zero
8. Call of Duty 3
9. Uno
10. Fight Night Round 3
11. Saints Row
12. Geometry Wars
13. Dead or Alive 4
14. Texas Hold 'Em
15. Madden NFL 07
16. Dead Rising
17. NFS Most Wanted
18. Rainbow Six Vegas
19. Battlefield Modern Combat
20. Splinter Cell Double Agent
Few surprises there really. What does throw up a few more surprises is the following list of the top 20 XBLA titles purchased in 2006, which clearly demonstrates the value of retro-nostalgia over actual quality of gameplay in our opinion:

Top 20 XBLA titles purchased in 2006
1. UNO
2. Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
3. Geometry Wars Evolved
4. Marble Blast Ultra
5. PAC-MAN
6. DOOM
7. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
8. GALAGA
9. Gauntlet
10. Frogger
11. Bankshot Billiards 2
12. SmashTV
13. Contra
14. Zuma
15. Texas Hold 'em
16. Bejeweled 2
17. Feeding Frenzy
18. Small Arms
19. Cloning Clyde
20. LUMINES LIVE!