Since the end of E3, a major gaming industry conference, many have speculated about which titles generated the most hype (and consumer interest) out of the gate. In terms of online buzz volume, several newly announced titles grabbed the lion’s share of attention with New Super Mario Brothers Wii leading the pack with 4.6 percent of E3 buzz. But looking at gamer sentiment in Nielsen’s Video Game Tracking survey shows that Halo ODST and God of War III lead in consumer purchase interest as of last week.
The table below shows total …

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 …

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 …