Resident Evil 5 maintained its lead as the top title in unaided consumer awareness, as 10.6% of respondents cited the game in Nielsen’s latest weekly Video Game Tracking survey. Buzz around the game has remained strong, even three weeks after its March 13 release. Guitar Hero: Metallica moved up two spots to take second place at 7.7%, likely due to its March 29 release date and the rock band’s Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction. The recently released Halo offshoot, Halo Wars, took third with 7.1% of respondents identifying …

The choice of which gaming system to buy can be difficult: Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 all have their pros and cons.  But according to recent metered usage data from Nielsen, each console tends to appeal to different demographic groups.
“All three of the consoles have their fans, and sales of consoles and games have been some of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak retail environment,” said Bradley Raczka, Marketing Manager for Nielsen Games.  “It will be interesting to watch the continued migration to the current generation consoles in 2009, and see how releases …

Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto IV” is one of the strongest brands in recent video game history, according to a new study by Nielsen.
In general, awareness of the “Grand Theft Auto” brand is significant, compared with games such as Microsoft’s “Halo 3,” Konami’s “Metal Gear Solid 4,” and Electronic Arts’ “Madden NFL 08,” Nielsen found. 
Of the 6,000 video gamers surveyed, 23% entered “GTA IV,” unaided by survey questions and prompts, as a game they were thinking about.  Only “Halo 3″ had a higher level of unaided brand awareness (32%). 
The results …