If you love charts and statistics as much as we do, you will be very happy with Unigamesity this week – we’ll be offering you all sorts of stats about gaming in 2008, as well as predictions and lists for 2009! We’ll start our trip to the past with the most played PC games of 2008, a list provided by research and data collection firm Nielsen. So, without further ado, let’s see the games people played the most in 2008:

1. World of Warcraft (2004) / Blizzard Entertainment
671 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.723% AU*
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) / Infinity Ward
403 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.163% AU*
3. Halo: Combat Evolved (2003) / Gearbox, Bungie
295 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.092% AU*
4. The Sims (2000) / EA Maxis
213 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.09% AU*
5. The Sims 2 (2004) / EA Maxis
291 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.086% AU*
6. RuneScape (2001) / Jagex Ltd.
451 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.084% AU*
7. Diablo II (2000) / Blizzard Entertainment
313 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.065% AU*
8. Team Fortress 2 (2007) / Valve
371 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.063% AU*
9. Counter-Strike (2000) / Valve
282 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.062% AU*
10. Counter-Strike: Source (2004) / Valve
426 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.061% AU*

*AU is the percent of PC Gamers playing title in the average minute. Data from Jan – Oct 2008.

Yes, the charts might seem a bit odd – no game released in 2008 made the list! Instead, surprises like Halo, the original The Sims and even Diablo 2 (three evergreens) seem to be enjoyed by gamers more than next-gen titles. Of course, the winner – World of Warcraft – will probably top the list for the next few years as well, but hopefully the chart will look a bit different. Honestly, 2008 offered some quality titles – just check our Best Games of 2008 awards and see for yourself!