The 12 most sought after video games for Xmas have been revealed by a panel of the UK’s foremost video games experts.

Assembled to mark the 2010 Golden Joystick Awards, the culmination of the annual London Games Festival - a panel comprising editors and writers for leading games magazines including the influential Edge and GamesMaster magazines and websites CVG.co.uk, T3.com and TechRadar.com were tasked with predicting the games that will have Brits digging deep this Christmas.

The UK games industry is now worth over £4bn a year, with new releases routinely outperforming the most successful box office movies and music releases.

The hugely successful ‘Call of Duty’ first person shooter series leads the list of games predicted to top the festive wish list and fuel the family arguments in households across the land with its latest instalment ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’. However, a strong following pack will also be challenging for the coveted Xmas Number One slot with recently released role playing game ‘Fallout New Vegas’ and hotly anticipated, UK-developed ‘Fable III’ set to press ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’ all the way to the line.

The diversity of the games tipped for success illustrates the myriad choices facing Xmas gift buyers in what could be a bumper season for the video games industry. Football games, racing games, action role playing games and music video games are all represented in the top 12. Gamers and gift buyers will be spoilt for choice as the festive season also sees the launch of the revolutionary controller-free gaming and entertainment experience of Microsoft’s Kinect device.

The panel’s full list of Top 12 games for Xmas is;
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Fable 3
4. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
5. DJ Hero 2
6. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
7. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
8. Gran Turismo 5
9. Rock Band 3
10. FIFA 11
11. Vanquish
12. Kirby’s Epic Yarn

For the list of winners from this year's Golden Joystick awards, click here.