So what were the biggest-selling games of 2008, you may well find yourself enquiring on a wet Friday afternoon?

To answer this occasionally vexed question the leading worldwide games chart compilers – NPD, Enterbrain and Chart-Track – have teamed up to create the drily-titled 'Top Global Markets' Report. This month’s findings will surprise precisely nobody but, for the sake of amusement, look away now and see if you can rank the five biggest games so far this year.

Okay, leading the bunch is Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV with a staggering 6.3 million units shifted since launch. We wouldn’t like to speculate what the title's success says about human nature or our insatiable need to indulge our dark side. However the remaining top five a rather more, well, nicer. Three of them are on Wii too, so what do you expect? Here’s how it all breaks down:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV – 6,293,000
2. Smash Bros. Brawl – 5,433,000
3. Mario Kart Wii – 4,697,000
4. Wii Fit – 3,604,000
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – 3,475,000

So how did you do? We’ll wager you picked all five of them even if not in the correct order. It’s interesting to see Wii Fit and Guitar Hero III riding so high, though, since both require the extra outlay to buy the associated peripherals. So much for the global credit crunch, eh?

More of this sort of thing next month. Providing it’s interesting, that is.