Nintendo's Wii was the most popular home console queried by Yahoo! users in 2008, according to the search engine company's Top 10 list of the most most-searched-for technology terms.
"Every day, people turn to the web to learn more about the world around them," says Yahoo! Web Life editor Heather Cabot. "Their searches reveal which news events, personalities and issues made an impact in 2008."
Wii placed third in the Top 10 list, right behind "iPhone" and "Digital Camera." According to Yahoo!, Wii Fit was the 12th most popular overall search term of the year.
Microsoft's "Xbox 360" and Sony's "PSP" are positioned immediately after the Wii at fourth and fifth place, respectively. "PS3" comes in as the eighth most searched technology-related term among Yahoo! users in 2008.
Interestingly, despite its immense consumer popularity and sales, the Nintendo DS was beat out by handheld rival PSP and failed to chart.
The complete Top 10 Most-Searched Technology Terms list follows:
- Digital Camera
- iPhone
- Wii
- Xbox 360
- PSP
- Blackberry
- Skype
- PS3
- iPod
- Garmin
Yahoo! also says that Jagex's free-to-play MMORPG RuneScape was the fifth most popular overall search term in 2008, which the search engine company attributes to international popularity resulting from the game's "cheap access, ability to run on older computers, and compelling play." RuneScape is the only video game title to break into Yahoo!'s Top Ten list of most-searched terms for 2008.