Christmas Number One

[Bear-Max]

With 2005 almost over and Christmas upon us, the yearly race for the Christmas number one slot in the gaming industry has found its victor. For the third consecutive year, the utterly undeserving Need For Speed franchise has pipped Peter Jackson's King Kong to the post and taken pole position in this year's festive charts.

Undeniably one of the best movie licensed games ever, King Kong would have been a welcome change to the top of the charts, but alas the marketing power of EA has (rather predictably) come good.

Let's just be thankful Crazy Frog Racing didn't make the top spot; it entered the charts at a feeble number 20, although it's still worrying to think that some poor souls will be receiving the retched game in their stockings on Christmas morning. Also worrying is the fact that the charts are blessed with 13 sequels and 7 licenced games - a sign that the charts are slowly stagnating and consumers are buying the same re-hashed tosh week-on-week. Not all licences are bad, but when a very poor GTA clone sells on the back of the name "50 Cent" blessing the cover, it's time for a change in the industry.

Here are the top 20 in full:
1 Need For Speed: Most Wanted
2 King Kong: Official Game of The Movie
3 Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
4 FIFA 06
5 Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire
6 Pro Evolution Soccer 5
7 Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe
8 Star Wars: Battlefront 2
9 True Crime: New York City
10 The Sims 2
11 50 Cent: Bulletproof
12 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
13 Gun
14 WWE Smackdown! Vs Raw 2006
15 Shadow The Hedgehog
16 Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
17 Buzz! The Music Quiz
18 Call of Duty 2
19 World Tour Soccer
20 Crazy Frog Racer

Chart from ELSPA.

[Jase]

Yay for need for speed most wanted!

[Infrontation]

NFS:MW will stay at the top. Good game :)

[Bear-Max]

I've played it and wasn't particularly impressed. The addition of the cop car-chases were interesting and I thanked the heavens that the eternal night-time was lifted, but other than that it seemed like the same old Need For Speed that was released 2 years ago.

[Jordan3]

I think Buzz! is cool, as it's a very good idea.