Industry voters pick hit games for 2009

Members of the GamesIndustry.biz Network have voted on the biggest software titles of the year, revealing predictions for the games expected to sell and score highly with consumers, retail, and amongst games professionals.

Capcom's Resident Evil 5 heads up the list of top 10 most anticipated games to be released this year, as the franchise that has spawned multiple games, novels and movies returns next month.

Sony's Killzone 2 is the second most anticipated game of the year, ahead of its release exclusively on PlayStation 3 next month, a week before Capcom's Street Fighter IV, the third most anticipated on the list.

Blizzard's return to StarCraft II - a game that is due to open its beta shortly - was in fourth place, just peaking Quantic Dreams' Heavy Rain.

Another Blizzard title, Diablo 3, made sixth on the list, although it may be wishful thinking as the developer has not confirmed any release date for the dungeon-crawling favourite.

Seventh position was for the latest in the respected PC series Empire: Total War, with Square Enix's fan-favourite RPG Final Fantasy XIII at eight.

In joint ninth place was the return of two titles which have made a considerable impression this current generation - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams - sharing the position with the as-yet unproven but anticipated Alan Wake from Remedy.

Looking at software from a more commercial point of view, Network members also voted on the games they expect to be the biggest sellers in 2009.

Activision's return to a more contemporary warzone topped the list with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, just ahead of Wii Sports Resort, the sequel to the massive Wii Sports from Nintendo.

There are no original IPs in the top ten, as old favourites like Resident Evil, Halo, FIFA and The Sims all claim a spot, but it's perhaps interesting to note that a couple of games released last year are expected to do well in 2009 - Wii Fit and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Sega's ridiculously violent Wii title MadWorld topped the list of recommendations for a dark horse - a game that may not be considered triple A but has the potential to perform better than expected, or at least find a cult following.

Jack Black vanity project Brutal Legend was second on the list, no doubt due to the pedigree of developer Tim Schafer and his previous cult success with Psychonauts and Grim Fandango. Quantic Dream is another developer with respect amongst the gaming community, and PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain was voted in fourth place.

Two former Vivendi games are at five and six in our top ten, Ghostbusters and Prototype. The Ghostbusters title should benefit from being released at the same time as the 25th anniversary of the original movie, while Prototype has been picking up positive early praise and was one of only a handful of IPs retained by Activision when it acquired Vivendi.

RealTime Worlds' APB builds a steady following after the team showed considerable skill with Crackdown, and the game holds seventh place with GamesIndustry.biz readers, just ahead of the new project from Sucker Punch, inFamous.

Rounding out the top ten is Halo Wars from the now defunct Ensemble Studios, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

The survey results, as voted for by 305 GamesIndustry.biz Network members, follow:

Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2009

• 01 Resident Evil 5
• 02 Killzone 2
• 03 Street Fighter IV
• 04 StarCraft 2
• 05 Heavy Rain
• 06 Diablo 3
• 07 Empire: Total War
• 08 Final Fantasy XIII
• =09 Uncharted 2
• =09 BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams
• =09 Alan Wake

Top Ten Biggest Sellers of 2009

• 01 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• 02 Wii Sports Resort
• 03 Resident Evil 5
• 04 Halo ODST
• 05 FIFA 2010
• 06 The Sims 3
• 07 Wii Fit
• 08 Killzone 2
• 09 StarCraft 2
• 10 World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Top Ten Dark Horse titles for 2009

• 01 MadWorld
• 02 Brutal Legend
• 03 Heavy Rain
• 04 Ghostbusters
• 05 Prototype
• 06 Alan Wake
• 07 APB
• 08 inFamous
• 09 Halo Wars
• 10 The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena