Developers' Game of the Year 2010

Tero Virtala is CEO of RedLynx, the developer of hugely successful Xbox Live Arcade game Trials HD.

"I try a lot of games, but only few of them get a lot of playtime. The games that in 2010 got lot of my time at home were games I could play with my kids, and enjoy the great time but also the game itself. If I have to name just one game, this time I go for New Super Mario Bros. for Wii."

Jason Avent is game director at Black Rock Studios, the developer behind arcade racing games Pure and Split/Second.

"I can't wait for Mass Effect 3. After getting annoyed with the first one and giving up on it because I chose the Matriarch Benezia mission and lost hours and hours repeatedly dying, I went back to it just before ME 2 came out. A few people I trusted said it was great so I got stuck in, levelled up like mad and kicked Benezia's ass on the first go.

"ME2 was much better balanced, had fewer usability issues and was still just as deep and fun. The connectivity of story between the two games was interesting and fresh. The fact that your choices made a fundamental difference to how things played out in ME2 was brilliant.

"I love my crew and I can't wait to see what happens in the next one. So best console game of 2010 for me was Mass Effect 2 and I'm really looking forward to the final part of the trilogy next year. On another note, I've been playing StarCraft II since it launched. It's bloody great."

Nathan Vella is president and co-founder of Capybara Games, developer of Critter Crunch and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes.

"While 2010 was a stellar year for smaller studios – Super Meat Boy, Limbo, Joe Danger and more – I couldn't possibly speak about gaming in 2010 without expressing my intense love for Super Street Fighter IV," Vella says.

"The amount of time I spent with SSIV easily dwarfs all other games of 2010 combined... And then multiplied by four.

"The game is a beautiful combination of simple and complex, accessible and hardcore, fun and frustrating. It's surprisingly well-balanced, considering the massive cast of characters, and has fostered some of the most intense gaming competition we've ever seen. See you all at EVO 2011!"

Jack Emmert is co-founder and COO of Cryptic Studios, and one of the brains behind MMORPGs City of Heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online and Star Trek Online. Cryptic is currently developing Neverwinter.

"Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is currently a favourite game that I'm playing," he says. "It feels like playing several different Spider-Man games with the different art styles and game mechanics for each era."

Markus "Notch" Persson is creator of hit PC game Minecraft.

"There were a lot of great games released this year, including The Settlers 7 and Super Meat Boy, but I'd have to say my favourite one was Red Dead Redemption," he tells us.

Craig Morrison is a game designer and director at MMORPG developer Funcom. His credits include Anarchy Online, Dreamfall and Age of Conan.

"There are two I couldn't separate and they are Mass Effect 2 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. They were both sequels whose predecessors I had liked, but with reservation.

"These sequels brilliantly addressed those reservations and improved on what had come before. As a developer, I love to see that happen!"

Edmund McMillen is co-CEO of Team Meat and one half of the development team behind rock-hard platformer Super Meat Boy.

"My game of the year is probably Minecraft, seeing as Tommy and I played the hell out of it for a month after SMB was released. It was a great means of escape. I have to also mention Desktop Dungeon though as a close second. I played that game the whole year... Amazing game."

John Vechey is co-founder of PopCap Games, creator of Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies and the Bejeweled series.

"A tie between League of Legends and Drop7 on iPhone. Both are incredibly compelling and seem to have near infinite strategic depth," he reckons. "More importantly, I've played hundreds of hours of both with many sleepless nights."

Finally, Ken Levine is the founder of and creative director at Irrational Games. He has worked on System Shock, Freedom Force and BioShock. He is currently working on 2012 title BioShock Infinite.

"Dragon Quest IX," he says when we catch up with him late in the year. "Call it a sad desire to reconnect with my DS, or Japanese RPGS figuring out how to tickle my Diablo-lover's soul.

"Dragon Quest IX took an embarrassing amount of hours out of my life this year."