2009 has come and gone and we were treated to quite a few stellar titles such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Dragon Age Origins, and Halo ODST. And that is just only touching the surface of some great titles we played in 2009. Well here we are in 2010. We have a huge library of top titles headed to the Xbox 360 this coming year so why don’t we take a look at some of those titles upcoming.

Typically the months of January, February, March and even April do not see a high volume of AAA quality titles, but it looks as though 2010 may be an exception. Rather than a heavily overloaded fall and holiday season, we will be getting great games from the first week of January right through to the end of the year. And I am sure there are quite a few announcements that will be forthcoming starting at PAX East in Boston which takes place at the end of March. Many of the titles you are seeing in the first quarter of 2010 are titles that took refuge from the juggernaut that is Modern Warfare 2. Not to many publishers wanted to take on that giant from a sales perspective and now we benefit greatly.

Right out of the gate we get several top notched titles in January. The release of the heavily acclaimed Bayonetta from SEGA hits our Xbox 360 trays first along side of THQ’s Darksiders,  cdv’s Divinity II, and EA’s Army of Two The 40th Day. But the early January titles lead to even more goodness in the much anticipated title from EA and Bioware, Mass Effect 2. You’ll also see the release of Capcom’s Dark Void. How is that for a January release list? There are a few smaller titles that folks will enjoy as well like SEGA’s Vancouver 2010 and SouthPeak’s Blood Bowl.

Moving forward to February we still seem some big titles making their debuts on our believed Xbox 360.  Two strategy games come to the platform in the form of Take 2 Interactive’s Tropico 3, and what looks to be a fantastic title in Ubisoft’s RUSE. Right on the heels of those titles are EA’s Dante’s Inferno, Take 2’s Bioshock 2, Activision’s BLUR and Singularity, KOEI’s Dynasty Warriors 6 Strikeforce, and SEGA’s Aliens vs. Predator. But honestly the biggest title coming in February has to be the return of Sam Fisher in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell Convicition. As with January there are a few smaller titles sprinkled throughout the month such as THQ’s World of Outlaw: Sprint Cars and SEGA’s Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing.

March is no exception to the previous 2 months with a stellar lineup of titles as well. It all kicks off with Battlefield Bad Company 2. I have to mention this only because of the many baseball fans out there, but 2K Sports tries its hand at baseball once again with MLB 2k10. Let’s keep our fingers crossed on that one. Following right on the heels of both of those titles is the hugely popular and greatly anticipated title from Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIII. If this title is not on your list, I suggest putting it there. THQ’s new shooter, Metro 2033 is also scheduled for an appearance in March along with the newly improved MotoGP 09/10 from Capcom. Finally on the list for March is Just Cause 2 from Square Enix and Clash of the Titans from Namco Bandai.

Folks, the above mentioned games all fall in the first quarter. There will be smaller titles that will be released alongside many of these games through those months, so it’s time to start saving those pennies now. In case you were not counting, I mentioned 26 different game releases for the first quarter alone. That’s not your typical first quarter in the video game industry. But hey, we still have 9 months to go for 2010 so let’s mention some of the top releases you will be seeing for the rest of the year.

In April, we will see a few big name titles as well. Topping the list of titles would be the title that seems like it would never appear from Microsoft, Alan Wake. One of my most anticipated games personally is the new western themed game coming from Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption. They are touting the in game world to be 10 times bigger than Grand Theft Auto IV. For the RPG fans out there, Two Worlds 2 from SouthPeak is expected to hit store shelves in April. As few other titles to expect would be Split Second from Disney Interactive, Backbreaker from 505 Games, Dead to Rights Retribution from Namco Bandai, and possibly Crackdown 2 from Microsoft.

May has a few titles scheduled now that were to be released earlier in the year such as Lost Planet 2 which has a demo on Xbox Live and Alpha Protocol from SEGA. You will also be treated to the new skateboarding title from EA, Skate 3 as well as THQ’s follow up to their UFC franchise, UFC Undisputed 2010. Ubisoft brings Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands to us just in time for the movie, and we also see SEGA’s Iron Man 2 which most likely will coincide with the movie release as well.

All of the titles mentioned above are not locked into the release time periods, but should be fairly accurate at this time. The rest of the year is speculation on release dates and most actual release dates will begin to come into play at PAX East and E3 in June. Let’s take a quick glimpse at what’s on tap for the rest of the year really quick in the list below.

June- December Releases/Announced
- NCAA Football 2011 (EA Sports)
- Batman Arkham Asylum 2 (Warner Brothers Interactive)
- Madden 2011 (EA Sports)
- Dead Rising 2 (Capcom)
- Splatterhouse (Namco Bandai)
- Halo Reach (Microsoft)
- Brink (Bethesda Softworks)
- True Crime (Activision)
- Medal of Honor (EA Games)
- Tron: Evolution (Disney Interactive)
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 (LucasArts)
- Dead Space 2 (EA Games)
- EA Sports MMA (EA Sports)
- WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 (THQ)
- Rage (EA Games)

** Most Dates Have Been Taken From EBGames.com