Happy New Year, get your controllers ready

Happy New Year, get your controllers ready

With 2010 finally upon us, gamers around the world have a lot to be excited about. Plenty of quality titles were released during the Fall of 2009, but the number was significantly smaller than what was originally projected this time last year. Many of the blockbuster titles that we expected to have already been playing met with delays, and others simply chose to steer clear of Modern Warfare 2, the largest impending videogame launch in history, and could you really blame them? For many, this shift in the release schedules was disappointing, but for others, like myself, seeing several triple-A titles move from Fall 2009 to the first quarter of 2010 was actually met with relief. The more balanced release schedule would give us more time to enjoy each individual game, instead of juggling four or five over the Holidays, and we’d no longer have to apply for a loan just to bankroll our gaming habits. Furthermore, the first quarter of the year is typically a gaming drought, with only one or two quality titles seeing release, so this means less cold Canadian nights watching reruns of Degrassi.

So just how awesome is this first quarter? Check out the release dates below.

01.05Bayonetta
01.05Darksiders
01.12Army of Two: The 40th Day
01.19Dark Void
01.26Mass Effect 2 (can’t.. wait.. much.. longer..)
01.26MAG (try the Beta now!)

02.09BioShock 2
02.09Dante’s Inferno
02.16Heavy Rain (so looking forward to this..)
02.16Aliens vs. Predator
02.23Splinter Cell: Conviction (our favourite game of X’09!)
02.23Lost Planet 2

03.02Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (I know Brad can’t wait for this one..)
03.09Final Fantasy XIII (..!)
03.16Command & Conquer 4
03.30Crysis 2
03.TBAGod of War III (..!!)
03.TBAGran Turismo 5 (..!!!)

Is it just me, or is March going to be one of the best months for gaming, ever? Additionally, there are games such as ModNation Racers and Super Mario Galaxy 2 that are projected to be released sometime in early 2010, which may yet land somewhere in the midst of the games listed above. If your New Years resolution was to play fewer games this year, good luck with that.

If there are any releases that we overlooked that you think deserves a mention in this article, let us know in the comments below!

About the Author

Richard Mitchell Richard Mitchell is a video game addict living in Toronto. He has been gaming for more than two decades, and despite multiple interventions, continues to game today. He owns an Xbox 360, a PS3, a Wii, a Nintendo DS, a gaming PC and a Life - doing his best to love them all equally.