According to the latest tracking study provided to Gamasutra by OTX's GamePlan Insights, Xbox 360-exclusive Halo 3: ODST continues to lead in U.S. consumer game purchase intent ahead of the holiday season -- but the Xbox 360 SKU of Modern Warfare 2 is rapidly closing the gap, and may soon seize the top spot.
Since we last checked in with GamePlan in July for purchase, pre-order and awareness stats, both Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 have made big pushes for the top of the charts.
But it's Assassin's Creed 2 that has shown the most movement, thanks in large part to its positive reception at GamesCom last week. The Xbox 360 SKU has climbed five spots to number 3, while the PlayStation 3 SKU rose 10 notches to number 8.
Elsewhere, Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus, which extends the extremely popular Balance Board-using franchise, is the highest new entry on the purchase intent chart, debuting at number 4.
This leads to the interesting circumstance of having three Xbox 360, two Wii, and five PlayStation 3 titles in the top 10 for purchase intent -- but in that precise order, with the PS3 games lower down the list and the Xbox 360 SKUs topping it.
In addition, PSP title Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines made its debut at number 23, making it the second most anticipated PSP title behind that platform's edition of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
The full individual SKU intent chart is as follows:
OTX's GamePlan tracking survey involves polling 1,000 U.S. gamers each week. The firm plans to release updated rankings monthly, leading up to the holiday season.
Purchase Intent
In addition to charting demand for games on an individual format level, GamePlan's charts can illustrate demand for titles independently across multiple-release platforms. The following list shows the top 10 most anticipated games based on total purchase intent for all SKUs:
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision)
2. Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft)
3. Guitar Hero 5 (Activision)
4. Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft)
5. Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix)
6. BioShock 2 (Take-Two)
7. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)
8. The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV/EA)
9. NBA 2K10 (Take-Two)
10. Need for Speed Shift (Electronic Arts)
