14 DAY TRIAL // A list by the Guinness World Records shows that Halo is the most loved videogame franchise of all time. The list was compiled by Guinness after more than 13,000 readers voted online for their favorite videogames. Voting took place between January and August 2009, so any big launch made after that point had little impact on the chart.
Halo was chosen based on the strengths of the first three videogames in the series. Since then, the franchise received a spinoff, called ODST, which moved the focus away from Master Chief. This fall, Bungie is set to deliver its final title in the Halo series, Reach, which will again put Spartans front and center as they battle the Covenant until they are wiped out.
Second place in the Guinness chart went to Call of Duty, from Activision, which is also set to get a Black Ops game in the fall, while third place went to The Legend of Zelda from Nintendo. Guitar Hero managed to snag fourth place, while Metal Gear made it to fifth place. The top ten is complemented by Super Mairo Bros., the MMO World of Warcraft, Gears of War, Super Smash Bros. and Grand Theft Auto.
Gaz Deaves, who is the gaming editor working on the Guinness World Records, says, “We decided to take a different approach with this list than we did in the previous edition. Instead of asking developers, industry insiders and journalists to rank their favorite titles, we approached a different kind of expert: the players themselves! We are confident that this 'top 50' more accurately reflects the tastes of the average gamer and not just the critics.”
Here's the rest of the list for those who want to see how their favorite videogame franchise fared in the Guinness chart:
11. Pokemon 12. Resident Evil 13. Fallout 14. Half-Life 15. Sonic the Hedgehog 16. Counter-Strike 17. Runescape 18. FIFA 19. Kingdom Hearts 20. Final Fantasy 21. Pac-Man 22. Madden NFL 23. The Sims 24. Tomb Raider 25. WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW 26. Rock Band 27. LittleBigPlanet 28. Saints Row 29. The Elder Scrolls 30. God of War 31. GoldenEye 007 32. Bioshock 33. KillZone 34. Skate 35. Left 4 Dead 36. Need for Speed 37. Chrono Trigger 38. Gran Turismo 39. StarCraft 40. Ratchet & Clank 41. Pong 42. Tom Clancy's 43. Star Wars: Battlefront 44. Battlefield 45. Diablo 46. Lego Batman 47. Mario Kart 48. Burnout 49. Crash Bandicoot 50. Pro Evolution Soccer.