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Next-Generation has compiled the top selling 100 games from the last year across North America and Europe, including sales figures.

10. Brain Age 2: More Brain Training in Minutes a Day
DS Exclusive
4M
77%
August/Other
Nintendo/Nintendo
Mike Smith (Yahoo! Games): “Whether or not you buy into the hype that playing this game will actually improve your brain, it's still one of the DS's most charming titles -- and it's got plenty of competition on that front.”

9. Super Mario Galaxy
Wii Exclusive
4.1M
97%
November/Action
Nintendo/Nintendo
Cody Winn (Deeko): “Any complaints I have with the game, well, they're so minute that I can't even remember them at this point.”

8. Assassin’s Creed
X360/PS3
4.9M
81%
November/Action
Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal
Dana Jongewaard (GameTap): “So is Assassin's Creed as awesome as I wanted it to be? No. But it's a game that attempts a lot of major development moves and it shows a lot of promise, even if it isn't always executed well.”

7. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
DS Exclusive
5M
85%
April/RPG
Nintendo/Game Freak
Jeremy Parish (1Up): “Look beyond the cheaply-made anime and the overblown collectible tie-ins, though, and you'll find that the foundation upon which the whole endeavor has been constructed is an enjoyable and often addictive RPG with a fantastic social element.”

6. Need for Speed: ProStreet
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/DS/PC
5.4M
62%
November/Racing
EA/EA Black Box
Steve Hogarty (CVG): “Sure, there are far worse driving games than this one, but in terms of the Need For Speed series, this is a dud note.”

5. Madden NFL 08
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/GC/DS/PC/XBX
5.7M
78%
August/Sports
EA/EA Tiburon
Richard Grisham (GamesRadar): “It may be the only NFL choice once again this season for the PS2, but at least it does the Madden name justice with its smooth play, wide range of features old and new, ridiculously in-depth franchise options, and online games.”

4. FIFA Soccer 08
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/DS/PC
5.7M
83%
October/Sports
EA/EA Canada
Dan Leahy (GameSpy): “Looks, as they say, aren't everything and FIFA 08 on the PS2 demonstrates this perfectly. Spot-on control, great atmosphere, more features than ever and balanced gameplay should send this one to the back of any soccer fan's net.”

3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
PS2/PS3/X360/Wii/PC
7.5M
82%
October/Other (Music)
Activision/Neversoft
Justin Leeper (GamesRadar): “Guitar Hero is still the best of the best when it comes to music and party games.”

2. Halo 3
X360 Exclusive
8M
94%
September/Shooter
Microsoft/Bungie
Gus Mastrapa (The Onion A.V. Club): “Nobody does this kind of online gaming better. The sheer variety of play offered out of the box is staggering.”

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
X360/PS3/PC/DS
8.3M
94%
November/Shooter
Activision/Infinity Wars (X360/PS3/PC), n-Space (DS)
Steve Hogarty (CVG): “…Call of Duty 4 expands on the series mightily. Its Middle Eastern and Russian locales, while still linear, feel far more open than the ruined streets of Occupied France ever were, and every mission contains at least one sweet chunk of surprise and delight.”


This comprehensive list compiles sales data of each game across all platforms, and presents each game with full context, including publisher, developer(s), genre, enthusiast press review score aggregates, and more. This presents a unique view into how the top-selling games of the year found that success, and what publishers can do to maximize their own sales.


If you want to compare this data to last years US data, check out the 2007 edition of The Games People Buy.

We will have the complete analysis of this data tomorrow, presenting in easily digestible form how sales were effected by each publisher decision—we will also be looking at how successful each publisher was. For now though, here are some interesting, at-a-glance takeaways:

• Madden is no longer an anomalous success—in previous years, the Madden series existed as an outlier on the scatter chart, a franchise that had success far outstripping its competition. This year Madden continued to sell at historically high levels, but now several competitors from a variety of genres sold in similar or excessive numbers. This was not just a result of including European numbers, either. Even in Madden’s home territory, several blockbuster hits threatened its dominance.
• The PS2 is far from dead—contrary to popular belief, the PS2 is not limping along on life support. In fact the PS2 market is a vibrant one that continues to be successful, thanks to the huge installed base and lower price point of games for the system. This is particularly evident in sales numbers for sports and licensed games. The vast majority of multiplatform titles in these genres found the most success on the older PlayStation model. The PS2 is still the system the masses play games on.
• Consumers are looking for more Wii Sports—Most sports games were most successful on the PS2, yes, but this was not the case for sports games with genres represented on Wii Sports. Multiplatform golf and baseball games surprisingly did best on Wii.
• Exclusives still rule, and Wii rules exclusives—out of the 100 games on this list, a full 34 are exclusive to one platform. The Wii’s unique development environment ensured it the plurality of these exclusives, with eleven games on this list (twelve if you count Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition). The DS has a similar number, while the Xbox 360 only mustered a tepid three.
• The common knowledge still applies—just like last year, it still looks likes the best way to find success is to pump millions of dollars into an exclusive title of superlative quality, or snap up a license and shoot a version to every viable platform there is. This year a third route has opened up; making an inexpensive Wii and/or DS game and hoping it strikes a chord in the consciousness of the consumer. While the data does show that this plan was successful multiple times in 2007, this is a crowded field based on the rapidly depreciating novelty value of the Wii. It is likely that such strategies will not be fruitful in the future.

This is just a small sampling of conclusions it is possible to draw from this data; our full analysis will run tomorrow. If you would like to see how this year's numbers compare to last year's US numbers, check out The Games People Buy 2007.

Notes:

• Numbers are based on official records from NPD and information provided to Next-Gen by publishers. Publicly available data and analysis was also taken into account, as well as dead reckoning and sanity checking from the Next-Gen staff when exact counts (such as unified sales data for Europe) were difficult to corroborate, conflicting, or unavailable.
• Numbers take into account only titles released and sold between March 1, 2007 and March 1, 2008. Each game only had to be released in one western territory to be included.
• Numbers take into account North America and Western Europe only.
• Numbers represent retail sales only.
• Pack-in titles were not counted.
• Older games re-released in the last year were only included if they included significant changes beyond a lower price. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition is an example of the former (thanks to its new control scheme). Hitman Trilogy, a collection of three Hitman games with no content changes, would be an example of the latter.

In the case of multiplatform games, the platform the game sold best on is listed first. The Metacritic score is the score the game received for its bestselling platform version. Quotes were taken from reviews that best reflected this score. Thanks to Metacritic and all journalists and publications quoted.