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   The unchallenged king of Xbox Live multiplayer games was, up until last week, Halo 2 - ironically an Xbox title, but one that somehow managed to hold its ground well above all Xbox 360 multiplayer games. The only one to usurp it, at long last, is Epic Games' new Gears of War shooter. This, according to last week's Xbox Live statistics, supplied by Major Nelson on his famous blog.

   Released earlier this month, Gears of War leaped straight to the top of the most played XBL games, surpassing the likes of Halo 2 and the new Call of Duty 3. But it remains to be seen for how long it will keep its position, since this is only its first week of glory. The best scenario right now for Gears of War would be to keep its crown until the return of Halo 3 in late 2007. Or, even worse (for GoW), until the Halo 3 multiplayer beta begins next Spring.

   Although we don't have a unified top for both Xbox and Xbox 360 games, the segregated XBL lists offered by Major Nelson look like this:
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1. Gears of War
2. Call of Duty 3
3. Contra
4. Call of Duty 2
5. Madden NFL 07
6. Rainbow Six: Vegas (demo)
7. Tony Hawk's Project 8 (demo)
8. Splinter Cell: Double Agent
9. Ghost Recon 3
10. Need for Speed Carbon

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: MC
3. Madden NFL 07
4. Counter-Strike
5. Rainbow Six 3 BA
6. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
7. Call of Duty 3
8. Forza Motorsport
9. Call of Duty 2
10. Rainbow Six 3    Meanwhile, Microsoft are taking full advantage of Epic's shooter in order to promote their console, at the loss of its direct rival the PlayStation 3. In the UK, the Xbox 360 ads exploded these last few days, kicking off the start of a heated race between Microsoft and Sony for attracting customers, as the holiday season approaches. Merry Xmas is what they're wishing us.

   ... and a happ'wii nyuu wii'r!