2010 was a great year for gaming, and the world's most played HD console enjoyed its fair share of high quality releases.

First off, we have the 10 games which were best received by reviewers across the board. For this, we take a look at Gamerankings 10 best games of the year. Gamerankings aggregates a wide variety of review scores from different publications and gives me an average.

Gamerankings' 10 best Xbox 360 games of 2010

1. Mass Effect 2 – 95.66%

2. Red Dead Redemption – 94.45%

3. Rock Band 3 – 92.43%

4. Halo: Reach – 91.70%

5. Super Street Fighter IV – 91.29%

6. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – 90.57%

7. Limbo – 90.48%

8. Super Meat Boy – 90.39%

9. Bayonetta – 89.80%

10. NHL 11 – 89.25 %

With that out the way, here were the Xbox 360 games that kept us busy this year.

Mass Effect 2

So far Mass Effect 2 is the strongest contender for our Reader's Choice Game of the Year award. Perhaps the most memorable single player game of 2010 (with stiff competition from Red Dead Redemption, mind you), Bioware continued to amaze gamers with the latest iteration of the now iconic sci-fi RPG series.

Alan Wake

A criminally-underrated, Alan Wake is authentically spooky, stylishly atmospheric, and superbly resolved. This game managed to get just about everything right. The worst thing about it is that you'll only ever get to play it for the first time once.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Okay, the single player campaign was definitively unremarkable. But the multiplayer – oh! – the multiplayer. The squad system is simply ingenious, Arica Harbour is glorious, and Rush mode must surely be one of the greatest inventions in the history of stuff ever. One copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2: About R300-R400. Crashing a helicopter into a campy-sniper-infested M-COM station: Priceless.

Red Dead Redemption

More than just GTA in the wild west, RDR captured the hearts of gamers around the world with its memorable characters, mature narrative, and massive scope.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

The Xbox 360 version of CODBLOPS was probably the least buggy, and alsothe best selling version of the game for Activision. There is no denying that minus the bugs and lag, CODBLOPS is an incredible game.

Limbo

The most critically sucesful Xbox Live Marketplace release this year, Limbo offers gamers a truly uniquely creepy experience.

Bioshock 2

For many, it did not quite reach the heights of its predecessor, but it still offered up something well worth playing, and succeeded by succesfully engaging players on an emotional level.

Halo: Reach

Microsoft's golden egg laying goose did not fail to deliver a game which millions sweat by. We're not all Halo fans, but you can't deny the game's ridiculous pervasiveness.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Making it out just in time for Christmas, Brotherhood brought welcome innovations to one of modern gaming's most beloved franchises.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction

2010 brought with it a new Splinter Cell, and while some long time fans of the series were displeased with some of the new game design choices, we thoroughly enjoyed Sam Fisher's latest outing.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light

The Guardian of the Light successfully brought Lara Craft into the Xbox Live Marketplace in ****

Vanquish

One of the year's most understated, but well received games – Vanquish offers a solid, compelling, action-packed and gorgeously rendered experience.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Bearing little resemblance to previous games in the series, this reboot offered impressive longevity, high-end production values, and an all around solid action RPG gaming experience.

Fable III

Another Xbox 360 exclusive (for now), Fable III blew us away with its memorable personality and sweet voice acting. Sure it has its problems, but it is still one of 2010′s highlights.

After a year of its release, now comes a patch for the Xbox 360 version of Ghostbusters: The Videogame, which addresses a number of outstanding problems so far, as well as the achievement of four bugs that could not be earned. The news comes after the announcement of a new game Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime, revealed yesterday.

It is in any case is good news for those who still play there or who decided to buy it at this time.

Party hats on again, chaps.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Xbox 360 going on sale in Europe and the UK: the console went on sale on December 2, 2005.

It only celebrated its US launch last week, with Japan celebrating – or maybe not – its release next Friday, December 10.

The console, which was unveiled in an MTV special before E3 in 2005, launched in 20Gb and a HD-less Arcade SKU forms. It was Microsoft's second home console following the launch of the original Xbox in March 2002 in Europe.

Launch titles for 360 in Europe included two Rare titles in Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo as well as Call of Duty 2, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ridge Racer 6, to name a few.

In the subsequent years, it's seen three Halo titles including Halo 3 itself. The latest release, Reach, launched in September.

360's biggest new IP, however, has been Gears of War. Following launches in 2006 and 2008 of Gears 1 and 2 repsectively, the final game in the main series will release next fall.

In November, Microsoft launched motion camera Kinect, something that the company hopes will significantly extend the life-cycle of the console.

Red-rings? What red-rings? We bow to you, 360. Happy birthday.

The "Xbox Live Rewards" program tested over a year ago is now a real thing. The website for the US/UK-only loyalty program is now live, and you can sign up and check out the rewards.

It's kind of like Club Nintendo, except instead of fans and tote bags, you get Microsoft Points and Microsoft Points. The bonuses range from 10 MSP for renewing a one-month membership, all the way to 400 for buying or renewing a family plan. You can also get 100 points for activating Netflix, unspecified bonuses for buying certain things on Marketplace, and an occasional 20 points for taking surveys. Microsoft also promises "cool prizes" in promotions.

As Club Nintendo users know, there is basically no downside to a loyalty program like this. You do the stuff you were going to do anyway, and then someone gives you free stuff periodically.

Follow on Twitter the leading figures in the video game market may lead to several interesting findings, such as this that we are going to bring you back.

Through the popular social network, in fact, the studio chief Danny Bilson, THQ has confirmed that the well-known manufacturer is working on a major title for Kinect.

Obviously, no other details were released about it, but we are ready to bet that all this has to do with the title of director Guillermo del Toro, who will appear for the first time on December 11 during the Video Game Awards.

Even John Carmack, a member of the old guard (relatively old) game industry, the market recognizes that the future belongs to digital.

In an article in The Telegraph, the co-founder of id Software said that "clearly, the canned goods are still the majority of sales now, but everything is destined to disappear sooner or later."

After the excellent proven experience with the App Store through the recent release of Rage in the iPhone version, it seems that digital delivery has definitely won Carmack, recognizing that the distribution system the benefit of any developer to provide a direct port to the market, without necessarily having to make arrangements for publishing millionaire, so there are large team alongside the same level as the smaller and independent. In addition, speeding and create a direct relationship with consumers, with the possibility of obtaining immediate feedback and possibly make changes to the game already out.

"This is the model of the future," said Carmack, "is what lies ahead for anything. Everyone knows that digital distribution will eventually take over – it's just a matter of time."

The absurdity with which a player, in a totally accidental, has become one of the most ordinary gestures in one of the killings that have seen more weird ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44sj5vWACQ

According to a report in the French site Nowhereelse.fr, it seems possible that the announcement of the hitherto official PS Phone that will bring the brand of Sony Ericsson is expected to close on December 9. The news comes from an invitation to the presentation that should take place during an evening directed by Pierre Perron, general manager of Sony Ericsson France. We look forward to discover what is true behind this invitation.

Begin to be published early reviews of Gran Turismo 5, a kind of small event for a title waited so long and which now, finally, proves the presence in the hands of gamers. The votes are now published on average high, ranging between 8 and 10.

• Eurogamer – 9
• IGN – 8.5
• Joystiq – 4/5
• VGD – 8
• CVG – 8
• Destructoid – 10
• GamePro – 4.5/5
• GameReactor – 7
• Videogameszone.de – 85%
• Metro – 8
• PSLS – 10

Buy it?

The children's Christmas wish list this year it seems that the console has been overtaken by an unexpected opponent. This is the iPad for 31% of children between 6 and 12 years is more interesting to find under the tree of the console. The percentage change for the kids instead of the 13 years that bring the IPAD to fourth place, but before the console even collapse. Look here at the bottom:

Top 10 6/12:

• iPad: 31%
• Computer: 29%
• iPod touch: 29%
• Nintendo DS: 25%
• PlayStation 3: 21%
• Smartphone (non-iPhone): 21%
• Altri mobile phone: 21%
• iPhone: 20%
• TV set: 20%
• 3DS: 20%

Following the list, 18% said Wii, PSP 14% and 12% Xbox 360

Top 10 13+:

• Computer: 20%
• TV set: 19%
• Smartphone (non-iPhone): 19%
• iPad: 18%
• Blu Ray player: 17%
• E-reader: 15%
• Wii: 15%
• iPhone: 13%
• PlayStation 3: 13%
• iPod Touch: 11%

Xbox 360 9%, DS 8%, 3DS 6% e PSP 5%.