Halo Is the Best Videogame Series According to Guinness

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.