#4 Natural Selection 2
PC gamers owe a lot to Valve, who in turn owe a lot to id Software. Valve's GoldSrc engine powered the original Half-life (essentially a heavily modified version of id's Quake engine) and it wasn't long before the modding community created new games to explore the possibilities of this robust platform for development. Counter-strike, Day of Defeat and Team Fortress are probably the most popular examples of online multiplayer titles that owe their existence to Half-life, however Natural Selection, whilst not perhaps as popular as the others, was an incredible game in its own right.
Natural Selection 2 has been in development for some time now, and concerns surrounding vapourware were addressed when pre-orders started being accepted back in May. Natural Selection has always been a curiosity in that it combines RTS style gameplay with team-based FPS. With any luck, Natural Selection 2 might provide us with a new twist on the conventional game, if only they'd hurry up and release it. (Official site).
#3 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
The original Bad Company was an interesting take on what was otherwise a pretty stale format. Of particular note was the inclusion of collapsible environmental objects. DICE did a pretty good job with their capable Frostbite engine, however it was far from perfect so a revisit was always on the cards.
From what we've seen of Bad Company 2 so far, it looks to be much the same as the original, with more emphasis placed on environmental physics. Simply put, more stuff breaks, and that's never a bad thing.
It's guaranteed to do well on consoles, and since Infinity Ward appears to have given up on PC gamers, DICE may be in the process of creating the next big online gaming title for that crowd too. We'll find out in March. (Official site).
#2 Gran Turismo 5
Is this game ever going to be released?
With the arrival of Forza Motorsports and rFactor, it's no longer necessary to own a PlayStation to experience excellent racing action. Sony are counting on Gran Turismo 5 to provide an extra push in sales for the PlayStation 3, so the release window will be carefully managed. It's currently set for a March launch, however various issues such as dynamic weather effects continue to require more input from developers Polyphony Digital. At least they're going to include vehicular and mechanical damage this time around, while it's taken them over a decade to get around to it is anyone's guess.
Gran Turismo 5 is yet again another title that Sony will use to gain the upper hand against the Forza-toting Xbox 360 crowd. It needs to be absolutely spectacular to ensure further development of the franchise, and rumours abound as to what additional features will be revealed, with many hoping Polyphony will include a track editor. It will need something of that magnitude to displace the existing competition.
It will be one of the biggest titles available in 2010, and with the power of Sony's marketing team behind it, it will be very interesting to see just how well it performs. (Official site).
#1 StarCraft II
While this list has been compiled in no particular order, it's pretty obvious that the first instalment of the StarCraft II trilogy will be massive. Announced in May 2007 at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in South Korea, the sequel to one of the most popular RTS titles ever made will arrive a mere twelve years after the first. Nobody can ever accuse developers Blizzard of rushing things.
While StarCraft II will prove to be popular in the local gaming market, its effect will be felt most keenly in South Korea, where for some reason StarCraft is immensely popular. Nearly half of the ten million copies sold in the past decade have been purchased by Koreans. Pro StarCraft players are treated as celebrities in South Korea, and over 120,000 people turned out to watch the final of the league season in 2005. It's safe to say that the release will probably cause a loss of productivity measurable on the South Korean sharemarket. (Official site).
It's not just these titles that will shape the 2010 gaming market. There are plenty missing from the list - AVP, Bayonetta, God of War III, Postal III, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Star Trek Online, Dante's Inferno, Fable III, Fallout: New Vegas - even World of Warcraft will get a massive update when Cataclysm goes live.
2010 is looking to be a very interesting year indeed, and provided developers can work through this period of financial uncertainty and come out the other side with a bunch of new ideas, 2011 could be even better.
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What did we miss? Let us know your picks for 2010 in the comments section below.
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