It’s no secret that Grand Theft Auto IV just came out, and this sucker seems to be a huge hit.

How huge? Check out 360 Voice, one of my favorite 360 gaming pulse sites. People sign up there to have a blog auto-generated by their live status. Check an example one out here.

Anyway, they compile their data for which games are most popular, and I find this data to be pretty accurate when looking at the other numbers out there. Not total numbers, but each games’ popularity in respect to others. I’m sure the data isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good to get an idea of how popular a given title is.

I’ll let the numbers for yesterday speak for themselves:

GTA IV
32,430 gamers (UP 24,148)

Call of Duty 4
5,629 gamers (DOWN -3,712)

Halo 3
4,086 gamers (DOWN -2,365)

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on Unique Users)
1 Call of Duty 4
2 Halo 3
3 Guitar Hero III
4 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
5 Gears of War
6 Rock Band
7 Iron Man Demo
8 FIFA 08
9 Forza Motorsport 2
10 Madden NFL 08

Top Xbox Live Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Lost Cities
2 Ikaruga
3 DOOM
4 UNO
5 Brain Challenge
6 N+
7 Worms
8 Bomberman LIVE
9 Battlezone
10 Sonic The Hedgehog 2
The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

No surprises here this week, as COD 4 tops the charts once again. Halo who? Good to see Forza still hanging in there as well.

It’ll be interesting to see how COD fares against GTA IV this week and next, just about everyone on my friends list was playing last night.

Source: Major Nelson

I happened across a reviews site, Test Freaks, and check out their 360 section. I had forgotten about an awesome demo I played a while back for Devil May Cry 4.

This is a definite pick up for me, as soon as time allows.

Review summary from Test Freaks :

The advanced graphics and techniques together with the visuals giving an attention to detail delight players as they explore new and exotic surroundings. Gamers state that Devil May Cry 4 with its superb action and style is a unique experience. Most reviewers state Devil May Cry 4 with its extraordinary action sequences highlighted by smooth controls and slick animations are all designed to amaze players. The actions are both stylish and beautiful. Though some reviewers find there are frequent repetitions in the environments and the fights, thus discouraging.

Devil May Cry 4 Reviews

Gaining XP and working with your buddies has never been this fun. The shared XP on Co-Op Campaign is great and the AI provides pretty good competition, especially when they spawn right around the corner from you. Running through the Co-Op Campaign with a friend for the second time on Realistic netted almost 30,000 points and an additional RANK. For you Achievement freaks out there, the multiplayer achievements seem to be the easiest to get on Team Leader and straight Death Match.
Arnett Out!

Well I have jumped back online with this game and I am proud to announce that the Multiplayer seems to be running very well now. I am not sure what was causing all the issues in the beginning, but the issues seem very rare now. Good gameplay and good matchmaking make this game worth playing.

Arnett Out!

Here is a great overview of the 4 up coming maps that will be available for CoD4, April 2008

Well, any fan of the Rainbow Six series will be happy to know that this game picks up right where the first Vegas left off. Technically speaking, Vegas 2 is happening in parallel with the first. While the Vegas One team is searching for Irena in Mexico and then Vegas you are searching for the other Terrorists associated with Irena in different parts of Vegas. The Ubisoft Montreal Team has woven a good web to tie these two games together.

The gameplay is almost exactly the same as the first incarnation, with the exception of a RUN button located at the Left Button position and the AI seems to be much better than the first. The XP has been tweaked and I like that the Co-Op games share the XP with the other players.

Overall, I am very happy with this game, the Campaign is awesome, the Terrorist Hunt is better than before and the Multi-Player seems to be just as good as the first time around!

Well you all know that I am a Call of Duty 4 fanatic. So in keeping up with my persona, I put together a great song (How Far We’ve Come, Matchbox Twenty) with of coarse a great game. Check it out, turn it up and let me know what you think.

Well I’m sure you hardcore Call of Duty 4 fans are aware that the new maps are on their way. We still have yet to get a confirmed release date of anything except sometime in spring. I have heard a date of April 3rd, but have yet to find anything to confirm this. So we just have to figure, sometime in spring.
The map-pack that we will be able to download consists of 4 maps. They are going for a range of play from close quarters to one massive out door map. The names of each map are, Chinatown, Creek, Broadcast and Killhouse. Chinatown is an old map that has been redone and updated from CoD2. Creek is a massive outdoor map that will be ideal for those snipers out there. Broadcast consists of the TV station section of the campaign of CoD4 and last Killhouse is a close and personal map sure to get your blood boiling!
Check out all the maps and other aspect of the up coming downloads at all of these sights, TeamXbox, IGN and Gamespy.
Also expect to dish out 800 Microsoft points to down load the maps.

Thanks again for reading
Junkyard129

Well the maps are getting a little closer. Take a look at this sneak peek of China town, a close quarters map that is sure to get your blood pumping. Other maps that will be on the Map-pack also are Broadcast and Creek . We are still looking for the DLC to be available in spring, so that is a 3-month window, but I am definitely excited.

Also in the video they mention that there will be 3 maps to down load. I have emailed and confirmed with Robert Bowling that there will be 4 maps to download, as soon as I have the title of this map, you will also!

So take a look and let us know what you think.

Watch it NOW