The lights are on
As 2009 draws to a close the lists start rolling in. One of the more entertaining inventories of the past 365 days is Google’s Zeitgeist roundup – taking a look at the most popular search terms of 2009 as relates to celebrities, sports and entertainment.
Breaking down the entertainment sector, Google revealed the top searched lyrics (Lady Gaga’s "Poker Face"), TV Shows (Glee), internet memes (Kanye West), movie trailers (New Moon), concert tickets (Taylor Swift) and yes, video games. You can find the list in full below.
Video Games
Notice anything odd? Perhaps that most of the top searches don’t necessarily relate to video games? “Ghostbuster” takes the number one spot, but we’re convinced that the film’s anniversary and the ever-popular Halloween costume aided its victory more than the video game. “UFC” and “Saw” both seem laughable in comparison, as their primetime and big-screen counterparts more than likely did the heavy lifting.
Bakugan – an immensely popular television show aimed at children – has a video game counterpart. But recognizing the game over the anime, collectable card game, action figures and constantly spawning merchandise would be on par with discounting the success of the Pokémon trading cards, show and movies. Still, it proves that the multi-tiered approach to entertainment does wonders.
“Batman Arkham Asylum” seems to be the first legit entry on the list. Not to write off Grant Morrison’s graphic novel, but Rocksteady Studios deserves their accolades.
Perhaps the most amusing entry on the list is number six – “Twilight.” Playing a game of word association, most likely from Twilight Princess or Tiberian Twilight, Google seems to have fooled themselves into thinking that the legions of teenage girls searching for sparkly vampires were, in fact, trying to sate their Legend of Zelda fix.
The last string of contenders seem genuine (aside from Transformers 2). “Fifa 2010,” “Modern Warfare” and “Resident Evil 5” were most definitely terms on our collective brains this year.
While Google’s 2009 Zeitgeist list may have missed the mark when it comes to video games, it makes for an entertaining read. Do you disagree with any of our above conclusions? Think that Ghostbusters: The Video Game really was a heavyweight this year?
fake
umm...
Yeah, thinking they took any search involving those titles, highly doubt it correlates with what people were searching for info in the related game.
this sounds... inaccurate...
Keep in mind everyone that this may be targeted to a specific region, Google has all kinds of interesting tools, but sometimes they are targeting something specific. Not to mention all of the parents that are looking for Video Games for their Children.
I would bet that most "Gamers" have a specific website that they go for their daily news anyways. I and other readers probably have Gameinformer.com bookmarked, so therefore, we aren't using Google to find news about our favorite games. Keep an open mind to how this all works, there's a lot going on here.
"Twilight" on a video games list... Lol
Interesting... Lady Gaga ftw.
Well, Ghostbusters wasn't necessarily a bad game - fans pretty much ate it up. I think it was more the anticipation of the game than the game itself.
haha google dropped the ball there. it appears horders of teenaged girls are irking for a Twilight game =P
Those are stupid games.. except 5,8,and 10
haha they failed on this one.
Based on the fact that no one even knew if was gonna be released I believe it.
"Ghostbuster"...
It's not even plural. There's no way that many people cared about the game. It had some hype but it died down pretty fast. "Ghostbuster" could be referring to people that actually investigate paranormal activity – which is to say the people searching with these terms have to stop living in the 80's. Shows on Discovery Channel like Ghost Lab or other network programs such as Ghost Hunters have become quite popular despite all of their scripted melodrama.
Maybe I'm off, but I have some serious doubts.
Not if it's the Wii version of Ghost busters. That game had so much potential, and while the PS3/Xbox 360 version is strong, it could have been much stronger.
If Twilight wasn't on there I'd be more apt to think this was legitimate.
well...ok.
Twilight has a video game? make sense since lots of girls now play games.....
I disagree with Google's assumption that someone searching for "twilight" is searching for a video game. Batman Arkham Asylum beating out Modern Warfare was a surprise to me though. Still, it's good to see a Batman game get the recognition it deserves.
These statistics are useless.