Gearlog reports that Nielsen, the one true source for gauging popularity in television and more recently video gaming, has released a fluff piece detailing their results from finding out what what games customers were interested in buying over the past few months. Unsurprisingly many of the games named in the results were ones based on just-released movie licenses. Games like X-Men Origins and Transformers II are to be expected, but what was surprising for those reporting on the story was the popularity of licensed games that didn’t have a big summer blockbuster release to back it.

Of those without a movie to give them a boost are Ghostbusters and Godfather II, banking more on the nostalgia of the fans and their love for the movies that came out decades ago by now instead of banking on the hype only available when a movie release is still fresh in the public’s mindset.

However for some franchises it’s not enough just to have a cult following of fans or have a new movie released at the same time as the game. For a franchise like…oh let’s say Harry Potter, that franchise gets to have the best of both sides, hardcore fans and people buying the game because it’s come out alongside the hot new movie of the same name. Whether or not the games are good is another thing, but for some franchises, that doesn’t even matter at this point, more so if it’s a long running movie franchise. Even the crappy James Bond games sell as well as the good ones most of the time. – The Ben