Thanks to the economic downturn, studio closures and layoffs, and a plethora of delayed and bumped releases, 2009 wasn't a year that many game companies will look back on warmly.
But with the new year comes new hope for the industry. 2010 appears to be stacked with significant games. And, unlike most years in which the majority of triple-A titles are released in the space of a few months during the fall, it's doubtful that even a month will go by without at least a couple of noteworthy games being released.
Here is a list of 40 games worth getting excited about this year.
(Alan Wake, APB, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Bayonetta, BioShock 2, Blur, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Command & Conquer 4, Crackdown 2, Dante's Inferno, Dark Void, Dead Rising 2, Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV Online, God of War 3, Gran Turismo 5, Halo: Reach, MAG, Mass Effect 2, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, ModNation Racers, Napoleon: Total War, Nintendo DS, No More Heroes 2, PC, PS3, PSP, R.U.S.E., Red Dead Redemption, Red Steel 2, Singularity, Star Trek Online, Starcraft II, Super Mario Galaxy 2, The Last Guardian, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, White Knight Chronicles, Wii, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Xbox 360)