GamingVerified
Mass Effect 2 is released
BioWare's acclaimed space opera opened the year's run of major game releases and went on to win many game-of-the-year awards.
Section 5
Gaming
Flash games on Newgrounds and Kongregate, FarmVille requests from your aunt, Angry Birds on a 3.5-inch screen, Minecraft in alpha, and a huge console year with Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption and Kinect.
Play a 2010-style browser game
Sponsored by The Internet From 2010
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loading game (simulated preloader)
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Original work An original mini-game built for this exhibit in HTML5 canvas, in the style of 2010 Flash runners. High score is stored only in your browser.
How a Flash game felt
- A preloader crawls to 100% while a sponsor logo glows.
- A menu with a big Play button and a high-score table.
- One button. Jump. Die. Retry. Chat scrolls beside the game.
- Your score lives in the browser and nowhere else.
Inspired by the one-button runners of the era, especially Canabalt and Robot Unicorn Attack.
The 2010 gaming shelf
Console
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii discs: the year of Red Dead, Reach, Black Ops and Kinect.
- Xbox 360Red Dead RedemptionRockstar's western, the game of the year for many18 May 2010 · Rockstar San Diego
- Xbox 360Call of Duty: Black Ops$360 million in 24 hours, the biggest launch in entertainment history9 Nov 2010 · Treyarch
- Xbox 360Alan WakeA writer, a flashlight, and the dark14 May 2010 · Remedy Entertainment
- PCFallout: New VegasObsidian's beloved, buggy Mojave19 Oct 2010 · Obsidian Entertainment
- PlayStation 3God of War IIIKratos versus Olympus, in PS3 spectacle16 Mar 2010 · SCE Santa Monica Studio
- PlayStation 3Gran Turismo 5Five years in the making, finally released in November24 Nov 2010 · Polyphony Digital
- Xbox 360Halo: Reach$200 million on day one14 Sep 2010 · Bungie
- PlayStation 3Heavy Rain"Press X to Jason": the interactive drama23 Feb 2010 · Quantic Dream
- WiiJust Dance 2The Wii party game that outsold the critics' favourites12 Oct 2010 · Ubisoft Paris
- Xbox 360 (XBLA)LimboBlack-and-white, silent, and the summer's indie darling21 Jul 2010 · Playdead
- Xbox 360Mass Effect 2The suicide mission26 Jan 2010 · BioWare
- WiiSuper Mario Galaxy 2Nintendo's best-reviewed game of the decade23 May 2010 · Nintendo EAD Tokyo
PC
Steam sales, StarCraft II, Civilization V, Minecraft in a Java window.
- PC (Java)Minecraft (Alpha and Beta)A Java game sold from a one-man website, before it ruled the world30 Jun 2010 · Markus Persson (Mojang)
- PCAmnesia: The Dark DescentThe horror game that made YouTube scream8 Sep 2010 · Frictional Games
- PCCivilization VHexes, one unit per tile, and one more turn21 Sep 2010 · Firaxis Games
- PCPlants vs. ZombiesTower defence with peashooters, on every platform in 20105 May 2009 · PopCap Games
- PCStarCraft II: Wings of LibertyTwelve years later, the sequel arrives27 Jul 2010 · Blizzard Entertainment
- PCSteam in 2010Steam comes to the Mac, and sales that emptied wallets12 May 2010 · Valve
- Xbox 360 (XBLA)Super Meat BoyFrom Newgrounds Flash game to indie hit20 Oct 2010 · Team Meat
MMO
World of Warcraft at its 12-million-subscriber peak.
Handheld
The DS, its XL sibling, and the 3DS on the horizon.
Mobile
99-cent App Store hits played on a 3.5-inch screen.
- iPhoneAngry BirdsThe 99-cent game that defined the smartphone era11 Dec 2009 · Rovio Mobile
- iPhoneCut the RopeFeed Om Nom: a million sales in ten days4 Oct 2010 · ZeptoLab
- iPhoneDoodle JumpTilt to jump, on graph paper6 Apr 2009 · Lima Sky
- iPhoneFruit NinjaSwipe to slice, avoid the bombs21 Apr 2010 · Halfbrick Studios
- iPhoneWords with FriendsScrabble by push notificationJul 2009 · Newtoy
Requests from relatives, energy timers, and virtual crops.
- FacebookFarmVilleThe Facebook game your aunt sent you requests for19 Jun 2009 · Zynga
- FacebookBejeweled BlitzOne-minute matches and a weekly friends leaderboardDec 2008 · PopCap Games
- FacebookCityVilleZynga's fastest-growing game ever, December 20102 Dec 2010 · Zynga
- FacebookMafia WarsText-based crime, energy bars and a lawsuitJun 2008 · Zynga
- FacebookPet SocietyPlayfish's cute pets, bought by EAAug 2008 · Playfish
Flash
Free browser games on Newgrounds, Kongregate and school computers.
- Browser (Flash)Robot Unicorn AttackAlways, I wanna be with you: the Flash game of 20104 Feb 2010 · Spiritonin Media Games
- Browser (Flash)Bloons Tower Defense 4Monkeys, darts and the tower-defence crazeOct 2009 · Ninja Kiwi
- Browser (Flash)CanabaltOne button, endless rooftops31 Aug 2009 · Adam Saltsman (Semi-Secret Software)
- Browser (Flash)Happy WheelsRagdoll physics and a level editor, born in 20104 Jun 2010 · Jim Bonacci (Fancy Force)
- Browser (Flash)Line RiderDraw a line, watch the sledder ride it23 Sep 2006 · Boštjan Čadež (fsk)
- Browser (HTML5 canvas)Pixel Dash (playable recreation)An original one-button runner in the style of 2010 Flash games2026 · The Internet From 2010 (original)
- Browser (Flash)The Impossible QuizThe trick-question Flash game every classroom knew20 Feb 2007 · Splapp-me-do
Supported Release dates and platforms from the sources on each game's page. Spine colours are decorative.
Gaming events of 2010
- GamingSupported
Robot Unicorn Attack is released
Adult Swim released the rainbow-trailing Flash runner set to Erasure's Always, which became the browser game of the year.
- GamingVerified
God of War III is released
Sony's PlayStation 3 spectacle sold more than a million copies in its first week.
- GamingSupported
Steam launches on the Mac
Valve brought its Steam store to Mac OS X, gave away Portal for two weeks to celebrate, and introduced Steam Play so one purchase worked on both platforms.
- GamingVerified
Red Dead Redemption is released
Rockstar's western became one of the year's most acclaimed games and a frequent game-of-the-year pick.
- GamingVerified
E3 2010: Kinect, PlayStation Move and the Nintendo 3DS
Microsoft named its motion camera Kinect, Sony dated PlayStation Move, and Nintendo revealed the glasses-free 3DS, the show's biggest surprise.
- GamingSupported
Minecraft enters Alpha
Markus Persson's Minecraft moved from Infdev to Alpha, sold from his website for about 10 euros, and began its word-of-mouth climb through forums and YouTube.
- GamingVerified
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is released
Blizzard's long-awaited sequel sold three million copies in a month and relaunched competitive real-time strategy and esports streaming.
- GamingVerified
Halo: Reach earns $200 million on its first day
Bungie's final Halo game had the biggest entertainment launch of the year until Black Ops two months later.
- GamingSupported
Angry Birds arrives free on Android
Rovio released Angry Birds free with ads on Android; demand crashed the GetJar app store that hosted it, and the game passed 50 million total downloads by December.
- GamingVerified
Kinect launches in North America
Microsoft's controller-free camera for the Xbox 360 sold eight million units in 60 days and was hacked into open-source drivers within a week.
- GamingVerified
Call of Duty: Black Ops sets a $360 million launch record
Black Ops sold about 5.6 million copies in the US and UK in 24 hours, the biggest entertainment launch in history at the time.
- GamingSupported
Zynga launches CityVille
CityVille reached 20 million monthly players within two weeks, the fastest-growing Facebook game yet.
- GamingVerified
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm sells 3.3 million copies in a day
Blizzard's third WoW expansion set a PC sales record weeks after the game hit 12 million subscribers.
- GamingSupported
Minecraft enters Beta
Minecraft moved from Alpha to Beta on 20 December after selling hundreds of thousands of copies, with Mojang now a company of several employees.
