2010 in video games


Numerous video games were released in 2010. Many awards went to games such as Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Mass Effect 2, God of War III and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Kinect from Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 was also released this year.
Series with new installments in 2010 include Ace Attorney, Alien vs. Predator, Army of Two, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, BioShock, Call of Duty, Castlevania, Civilization, Crackdown, Donkey Kong, Darksiders, Dead Rising, Fable, Fallout, God of War, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Just Cause, Kane and Lynch, Lost Planet, Mafia, Mass Effect, Medal of Honor, Mega Man, Metroid, Need for Speed, Pokémon, Prince of Persia, Red Dead, Red Steel, Resident Evil, Skate, StarCraft, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Super Monkey Ball, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Total War.
In addition, 2010 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Alan Wake, Darksiders, Deadly Premonition, Heavy Rain, and Metro.

Legend

Hardware releases

This is a list of all the game hardware released in 2010.
This year saw the release of Sony's PlayStation Move and Microsoft's Kinect, which are Motion controller peripherals made to compete with Nintendo's Wii. In addition, Nintendo also released the Wii Remote Plus, which was a Wii Remote with a built-in MotionPlus.
Two consoles revisions were also released this year, the Nintendo DSi XL and the Xbox 360 S.
DateyConsole
March 5Nintendo DSi XLEU
March 28Nintendo DSi XLNA
April 15Nintendo DSi XLAU
June 18Xbox 360 SNA
July 1Xbox 360 SAU
July 8Xbox 360 SNZ
July 16Xbox 360 SEU
September 15PlayStation MoveEU
September 16PlayStation MoveAU/NZ
September 17PlayStation MoveUK
September 19PlayStation MoveNA
October 21PlayStation MoveJP
October 28Wii Remote PlusAU
November 4KinectNA
November 5Wii Remote PlusEU
November 7Wii Remote PlusNA
November 10KinectEU
November 11Wii Remote PlusJP
November 14KinectCOL
November 18KinectAU
November 20KinectJP

Best-selling family video games

The following titles were the top five best-selling family video games worldwide in 2010.
RankTitlePlatformPublisherSales
1Wii SportsWiiNintendo16,600,000
2New Super Mario Bros. WiiWiiNintendo11,300,000
2Wii Sports ResortWiiNintendo11,300,000
4Wii Fit PlusWiiNintendo8,900,000
5FIFA 11EA Sports8,400,000

Critically acclaimed titles

and GameRankings are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
GamePublisherRelease DatePlatformMC scoreGR score
Super Mario Galaxy 2NintendoMay 23, 2010Wii97/10097.35%
Mass Effect 2Electronic ArtsJanuary 26, 2010X36096/10095.77%
Red Dead RedemptionRockstar GamesMay 18, 2010PS395/10094.66%
Red Dead RedemptionRockstar GamesMay 18, 2010X36095/10094.12%
Mass Effect 2Electronic ArtsJanuary 26, 2010WIN94/10094.52%
StarCraft II: Wings of LibertyBlizzard EntertainmentJuly 27, 2010WIN93/10092.44%
Rock Band 3MTV GamesOctober 26, 2010X36093/10092.44%
Pac-Man Championship Edition DXNamco Bandai GamesNovember 17, 2010X36093/10090.88%
God of War IIISony Computer EntertainmentMarch 16, 2010PS392/10092.07%
Xenoblade ChroniclesNintendoJune 10, 2010Wii92/10091.74%
Super Street Fighter IVCapcomApril 27, 2010PS392/10091.23%
Halo: ReachMicrosoft Game StudiosSeptember 14, 2010X36091/10091.79%
World of Warcraft: CataclysmBlizzard EntertainmentDecember 7, 2010WIN90/10091.45%
Super Street Fighter IVCapcomApril 27, 2010X36091/10091.39%
Pac-Man Championship Edition DXNamco Bandai GamesNovember 17, 2010PS391/10091.06%
Rock Band 3MTV GamesOctober 26, 2010PS391/10090.94%
Rock Band 3MTV GamesOctober 26, 2010Wii91/10090.67%
MLB 10: The ShowSony Computer EntertainmentMarch 2, 2010PS391/10090.53%
LimboMicrosoft Game StudiosJuly 21, 2010X36090/10090.68%
Assassin's Creed: BrotherhoodUbisoftNovember 16, 2010X36089/10090.62%
Super Meat BoyTeam MeatOctober 20, 2010X36090/10090.51%
Cave StoryNicalisMarch 22, 2010Wii89/10090.31%
Assassin's Creed: BrotherhoodUbisoftNovember 16, 2010PS390/10089.92%
Civilization V2KSeptember 21, 2010WIN90/10089.17%

Major awards

Video game-based film and television releases

TitleDateDirectorDistributorFranchiseOriginal game publisher
Dante's Inferno: An Animated EpicFebruary 9, 2010Mike DisaAnchor Bay EntertainmentDante's InfernoElectronic Arts
Halo LegendsFebruary 16, 2010Frank O'ConnorWarner Home VideoHaloBungie
PixelsApril 8, 2010Patrick JeanOne More Production
Street Fighter: LegacyMay 6, 2010Joey AnsahStreetlight Films Inc.Street FighterCapcom
Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeMay 9, 2010Mike NewellWalt Disney Studios Motion PicturesPrince of PersiaUbisoft
Mortal Kombat: RebirthJune 8, 2010Kevin TancharoenMortal KombatMidway Games
Zoroark: Master of IllusionsJuly 10, 2010Kunihiko YuyamaTohoPokémonGame Freak
Resident Evil: AfterlifeSeptember 2, 2010Paul W. S. AndersonSony Pictures Motion Picture GroupResident EvilCapcom
Tron: LegacyNovember 30, 2010Joseph KosinskiWalt Disney Studios Motion PicturesTron

Events

DateEvent
January 7–10International Consumer Electronics Show 2010 was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
February 11–14Microsoft X10 held in San Francisco.
February 24–27Nintendo World Summit held in San Francisco.
March 9–13Game Developers Conference 2010 held in San Francisco, CA.
March 26–28First PAX East Coast at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston, MA.
April 15Xbox Live for original Xbox console and games discontinued.
April 20–23Captivate, Capcom's annual tradeshow was held in Honolulu, Hawaii.
May 4–7The Humble Indie Bundle, an experiment into indie, charitable, cross-platform, DRM-free digital game distribution, is first released to great success.
May 30Esports organization FaZe Clan is founded.
June 15–17E3 2010 is held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
June 17–19OnLive released.
August 12–15QuakeCon was held in the Hotel Hilton Anatole, in Dallas, Texas, USA.
August 16–18Game Developers Conference was held in Europe in Cologne.
August 18–22Gamescom 2010 was held at Cologne, Germany.
September 3–5Penny Arcade Expo 2010 was held at Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.
September 15–21PlayStation Move was launched in North America, Europe and various Asian countries.
September 16–19Tokyo Game Show 2010 was held at Makuhari Messe in Japan.
September 30–October 3The 2010 World Cyber Games take place.
October 22–23BlizzCon 2010 was held at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
November 4–7Microsoft's Kinect launched worldwide, starting in North America.
December 11The 2010 Spike Video Game Awards were held.