Does it really need to be said?

Most people *bought* GTAIV outright whereas it's a fair assumption to make that many people were unsure about Iron Man and thus rented it first.

This is probably skewed because most people would buy GTA IV rather than rent it, while on the flip-side the Iron Man game is more of a rental than a purchase, resulting in greater numbers than GTA for rentals.

And yet, reviews for this game are still obscure the last time I checked.

I liked the demo but a lot of people told me that the demo is a highlight of the game.

What to believe what to believe.

So what does this say about the XBox dominance in the US market?

This could also mean:

A) Most people who wanted GTA IV went and bought it.

B) So many people wanted to rent GTA for the XBox that they had to rent SOMETHING when it was all out, and the salespeople ALL recommended Iron Man.

A dubious honor indeed.

This basically says "Iron Man: The Game " is decidedly a "rental" while GTA IV is a game that people just feel the need to own.

Its gotta have a universal 8.0 (or equiv) across the board if I'm gonna put money down on it.

@wild_world_girl: That makes no sense whatsoever, given that GTA4 _is_ at the top of the chart.

Why is Ninja Gaiden 2 on the list. I thought it wasnt going to be released for another month???

Um... Ninja Gaiden 2?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Why didn't I know about this being released :S

Did I miss the Ninja Gaiden II launch? (See top rental #10).

I'll agree that most people probably BOUGHT (or "bought") GTA IV, but the fact that a movie game is holding it's own on a list of top rentals (in the Top 3, no less) against a highly anticipated game is still remarkable none the less.

@Erwos: Well, some told me that Iron Man LOOKS better than GTA graphics. And that you don't have to be adult to play Iron Man... ;)

Important #'s to take from this info:

1st and 2nd spots go to the 360
2 of the top 3 are on the 360
3 of the top 5 are on the 360
7 of the top 10 are on the 360

WOW!

the PS3 has 2 and 1 is in the top 3, the other in top 10.

oh, and the Wii made it with just 1 game, but at least its in the top 5

skewed by GTA IV purchases or not, 70% of the top 10 are on the 360 ... so ... why do developers still do PS3 exclusives? Don't they like money? If they want money, games should either be 360 exclusives, or at least multi-platform on both. The 360 has a far superior attach-rate (more than 2:1 compared to the PS3's, and like 4:1 compared to the Wii's), so get with it developers!

360 games = more $ than PS3 exclusives

I'm guessing the IronMan game isn't rated "M" either, which may help to explain its rental sales.

Regarding the whole Ninja Gaiden II thing? Is it already out?

ninja gaiden 2.. wtf, so how can we trust this chart now?

I would not buy the iron man game. Besides kids, I don't see who can enjoy this game. It kind of sucks.

Probably because everyong else went out and BOUGHT GTAIV expecting to be waiting for a damn long time for others to finish playing it before Gamefly could send them a copy.

At least that's what i went out and did, right before I canceled my Gamefly subscription because, let's face it, paying $22/month to play nothing but a game you have already bought is totally not worth it.

maybe Iron Man has easy achievement points?

@Zhabin: I'm guessing GameFly allows unreleased games to be put in the uhh....GameQ (is that what its called?). I guess that's why NG2 is in the top 10.

@Lanhoj I hate to burt your bubble... but thats just America. 360 has out sold the PS3 here like 2 to 1 overall. They have units out there. But world wide its not the same story. Lets say this came out of Germany or Japan. The 360 numbers would read totally different.

Gotta look at the world wide picture my friend.

@Rabidsquirrel: *edit* Burst.

And I ment this list. :-p

@Lanhoj: And this is relevant, how?

xD I bought Ironman, didn't even think about GTA4.

What I don't get is why there is no real reviews for the game! I mean it has been out for a few days and if we are able to buy it then the reviewers are able to rate it. I just don't get it.

Some people probably realize it would be impossible to even receive a highly anticipated game like GTA4 through Gamefly

@Lanhoj:

you do have to hand it to microsoft for bringing mass market appeal to the gaming industry. i just hope they don't monopolize as they have with windows. when the 360 or equivalent becomes the only choice I have for my gaming, I think it will be time to throw in the towel.

Who rents a game that takes hundreds of hours to play? Just friggin buy GTA4 and rent the quickie Iron Man.

I gotta say that Iron Man translated into a video game surprisingly well. I mean, hell, the HUD is pretty much exactly what Tony Start would be seeing inside the suit.

A good Comic Book -> Movie translation is rare. A good Movie -> Video Game translation is even rarer. But I gotta hand it to them, this Comic Book -> Movie -> Video Game translation worked out great.

I played the demo and this game sucks. Save your money and your time.

Yup, chart fails.

"10 Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox 360 Action Adventure Microsoft"

I think it's based on "requests" for games, not actual games delivered. So maybe a ton of people are requesting Ninja Gaiden 2 in the hopes of being at the top of the list when it releases?
Or they're sending it out early, in which case I need a gamefly subscription last week.

I believe it's because GameFly takes into account people putting unreleased games in their GameQ so some games will appear on the Top 10 before they've even been released. Kinda interesting really because it's a prediction of things to come.

What about age of gamers? I mean every little kid I know has an Xbox 360. Most kids are going to want to play this title as it is very appealing to them as well as rated for Teen. As where GTA IV is for the 18+ community and retailers have been putting pressure to actually honor rules of ESRB ratings. As far as rental vs. buy, I think there is little to do with that. You can buy with Gamefly, and I plan on buying GTA IV which I already have an option to do so at a discounted price.

Come on Crecente!

Why don't you stop sitting on the rest of those GTA4 sales figures and hook-up a brotha? :)

@josh924:

I see. Personally I do not use GameFly so that thought hadn't come across my mind. That certainly would help explain why the game appeared in that list though.

@truhuman: @WildVulture:
And now that you 2 have said what you said, it makes a lot more sense.

I really must say, the 360 is really driving the game market in the US. Regardless of the source and the time of year, 360 games plaster all top 10 charts. and the industry keeps seeing a healthy growth quarter after quarter. I'd hate to think what it would have been like for the industry if Microsoft sat out this generation.

@Lanhoj: Thank you for taking the time for putting that information out for us. Of course, we came here specifically to read that kind of information. We didn't come here to read about Iron Man and its rental success.

You are...the man.

I don't see the big deal over the Iron Man game. I played the demo myself, and I thought it was a load of mehkaka. Maybe the full game is better, but I wouldn't want to find out.

But hey, least the movie seems to be better in every aspect!

@chrisgriner: Either you're the master of sarcasm, or you're both horrible trolls. Microsoft bringing gaming mass market appeal? I'm completely lost. Last that I checked PS2 sold 120 million consoles last generation and that the Wii has already surpased the 360 in roughly one year's less time and doesn't seem to show many signs of ever looking back... Just wow.

err, what list is this? GameFly "most popular" rentals has GT5 at #10 not ninja Gaiden.

@Assassin9: The reason there are probably no reviews is because the publisher didn't send out pre-release copies. If a publisher thinks the game might be reviewed badly they will wait until the movie is out and hope to cash in quick before the gamers find out it sucks. This is common practice with movie-to-games or other licensed properties (which generally blow).

GTA = buyer
Iron Man = renter

Anyone mention that people probably just bought GTA IV?

@Foggynotion: First comment. :P

The Iron Man demo was pretty nifty, though, especially after seeing the completely awesome movie.

@Anemone: that was playstation 2 not playstation 3 aside from the wii statement what you said is pointless.

@Magic Emperor Anima: Oh sanp! You got that fool good! Serves him right. When will people realize that it's not about the consoles, it's about the game! We as gamers have to come together and stand firm and let the world know it's more about the game, it's about the community. Iron man fought for what's right and it's on this momentous monetary milestone that we celebrate the success of the game and forget the general community at large. We will look back 10 years from now and realize that this day was about more than the Iron Man game on gamefly.. this day was much more important than that. This day marked the day Lanhoj got served by Magic Emperor Anima. Shit... I'm just happy I was alive to see it :)

I was dead serious about what I said up there and if it sounds like sarcasm up there, please ignore it... I'm all about love <3

People like you and I need to stand up against people like Lanhoj and keep them on topic.

Iron Man. Gamefly. Top 10 Lists (that should cover all my bases).

@Foggynotion: Yes, about a half-dozen other people.

@Magic Emperor Anima: thank you for taking the time out of your day to look like a douche, maybe some people liked his post, so just ignore it. You don't represent all of kotaku.

you aren't the man

@if_deez: Pointless save for the fact that you would do well to read statements. How can MS bring gaming to the mass media if it was already popular? I don't know about you, but any item selling over 100 million is beyond impressive and denotes mass marketability. ^_^ I really fail to see how time passed determines wheter something was popular. I would say that Atari really brought gaming to the masses, but hey, I've been incorrect in the past.

The demo sucked.

To be honest, and yes before you say it, many co-workers have already labeled me insane, but I have actually played more Iron Man: The Game this weekend than GTA IV.

Why? Well, it's fun (once you get over the obvious flaws), but mostly because it has a very close foreseeable finish line that's more appealing to me than a 30 hour finish line.

@if_deez: I know I don't represent all of Kotaku. There's just a certain place and time for posts like his. He ended up talking the whole "Why develop PS3 Exclusives" nonsense we've all heard before, and that has nothing to do with this.

I can see if it was an NPD topic, but it's not.

So yes, I am not "the man". Glad you took the time to reply to me though to let me know. You rock, man.

I dont usually troll pages I've already posted on and start sh!t by responding, but cudnt resist here.

@Rabidsquirrel: German? Not nearly as important as NA, plus they have whack censoring there. Japan? the Wii can have that.

@chrisgriner: ya, competition is good for the industry.

@Magic Emperor Anima: so read the original post and move on. problem solved.

@okenny :): um ... i dont see where ur going with that, but wtv. he didnt 'serve' me at all, and neither did u if thats what u were trying. I was the one that was talking about the attach-rate of games. I dont care about console sales, I care about game sales.

===== ===== ===== ===== =====

but ok ya, back on topic. Congrats to Iron Man the game on the 360 for beating GTA IV on the PS3, (in GameFly's weekly rental #'s) YAY!
a shame the game wasn't nearly as good as the movie.

===== ===== ===== ===== =====

/ends 'argument' and walks away from this page.

Woo hoo!
Gamefly rentals!
Probably the most esoteric source of game rental information ever, but good for Iron Man.

@Lanhoj: This could have been said for the Xbox + Gamecube last generation. Monopolies suck. Don't encourage it.

Man, GTAIV is so over.

As much as I like my GTA4 the overall experience has felt like GTA3-HD with some of the cooler aspects of Vice and Andreas removed. That being said the novelty wore off fast enough to catch Iron Man with my friends.

Who the hell wants to rent GTA IV?!?!?

People would riot because it stayed checked out all the time!!!