Xbox Live answers the Call of Duty

Activision continues to enjoy a successful next-gen online campaign, with Call of Duty 2 clinging to first place in the Top 10 most popular titles on Microsoft's Xbox Live service.

According to Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb's weblog, the 360 shooter has maintained the lead over Ubisoft's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - which has bunkered down in second place for the week of July 17th.

SEGA's recently released mech title, Chromehounds is making a determined assault in third place, with Bethesda's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion close behind in fourth.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II take up fifth and sixth place respectively, giving EA the edge over Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI, which is at seventh place in the rankings.

Heading towards the bottom end of the popularity chart is 2K Games' Prey in eighth place and the list is rounded up by Project Gotham Racing 3 and the online demo for EA's Lord of the Rings strategy title, Battle for Middle Earth II.

The weblog also highlights the top ten most popular online games for the original Xbox, which is topped by multiplayer favourite Halo 2.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and Counter-Strike finish up the top three, Ubisoft claiming a victory for it's Tom Clancy franchise with Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Rainbow Six:3: Black Arrow in fourth and fifth place respectively.

In the second half of the Xbox listing, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 5 is followed by Star Wars Battlefront II and another for EA with Madden NFL 2006. The Xbox chart, which appears to still be flourishing in spite of the introduction of its next-gen successor, was finished up with Forza Motorsport in ninth and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory clinging on at number ten.