Oy. 

In what must be a glitch in the Matrix, Call of Duty 4 has officially beaten Halo 3 for the #1 retail Xbox Live spot according to Major Nelson. Could this be the Major's revenge for the recent corporate gag order that was imposed by Microsoft regarding their class action lawsuit?

This is another black eye in a bad month for the beloved 360. Seeing "The Franchise" dethroned is the new call to arms for every COD4 fanboy to rise up and smack down their hated pro-Halo 3 adversaries!

In any case, I think the fact that this has happened in such a short period of time makes this a pretty signifigant defeat. Activision needed only 2+ months to take down the goliath, and the goliath had a nearly 2 month headstart.

The numbers, in a way, tell an interesting tale. Its just an armchair theory, but with the millions sold in the first month, the Live attach rate must have dropped dramatically over the last few months (I'm guessing they are counting Gold memberships and not both Silver and Gold? I'd love confirmation on this). I wonder how many took advantage of the free Live weekends and free trials, only to realize that the level of online competition is light years beyond what the casual/average player expects.

It's a marathon to be sure, but this is an interesting development in an interesting January.

And just after I posted this, I came across this new class action lawsuit proposed because Halo 3 does not natively render in 720p. "Thank you sir, may I have another!"