It’s been a big year for gaming; the Playstation 3 is picking up steam, the Xbox 360 and the Wii are selling well and we’re seeing plenty of popular game sequels and exciting new franchises. But when it comes to curiosity on the Internet, it seems none of that compares to the popularity of RuneScape, the browser-based MMORPG from 1998. It ranked fifth on Yahoo’s list.

To be fair, RuneScape was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records this year as the most popular free MMORPG in the world for two years running. Still, this is somewhat mind boggling, as big-name titles like Gears Of War 2, World of Warcraft and Fable II don’t appear at all in the top 10. Naruto did come in at number seven, but there’s more to that anime series than the recent game Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm.

Yahoo explains that their editors analyze popularity rankings "based upon a number of factors, including absolute volume and growth versus previous periods, to see which themes and trends bubble to the surface."

One factor that could play into Runescape’s success is that past Runescape players often check back to see what is new or to even log back on for holiday events. The game has also picked up a lot of followers since 1998. What ever the case may be, it’s still hard to believe that any game would see such Internet search popularity ten years after its release. It’s even harder to believe that World of Warcraft, which serves millions of user accounts, is nowhere to be found, especially with a much-hyped expansion released last month.

The rest of the popular searches seem quite relevant for the times, with Brittany Spears at number one and President-Elect Barack Obama at number three. I look forward to seeing numbers from other search engines to see how RuneScape performs.

In any case, this is a prime example to never underestimate the power of free and accessible gameplay.