Microsoft believes that even without the announcement of the specifics behind what to expect from Natal that 2010 will be the biggest year of the Xbox 360 platform yet. Last week in San Francisco they hosted an invite-only X10 event, where they gave primarily members of the media a sneak peek at what their plans and lineup for 2010 on the Xbox 3600 look like. While they didn’t discuss Natal, which is believed to be the company’s focus for announcements at E3, they did show off a variety of upcoming titles coming to the Xbox 360 platform this year.

With the majority of the titles shown and titles that should be expected in the first half of this year, the lineup was impressive nonetheless. Titles shown included: Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Dead Rising 2, Fable III, Halo: Reach, Lost Planet 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction. Also, the first major content expansion from Valve for Left for Dead 2 was shown.

According to our sources, the decision to do the X10 event was to get the word out in the media of the number of fine titles coming for the Xbox 360 later this year. Microsoft wants to raise consumer awareness of these titles. In addition, with the number of announcements that the company has planned for E3 that will be Natal-focused, it is necessary to place some focus on these titles ahead of E3. Whispers that we hear also insist that Microsoft wants to raise the profile of the Xbox 360 and make sure that players know that the number of triple “A” titles coming for the platform are equal to or greater than other rival platforms.

After speaking with an analyst who attended the event, he said that he was excited about the number of quality titles for the Xbox 360 platform this year. Still, he warned that the sheer number of titles could represent some danger to publishers, as sales numbers are not likely to be strong for every title released. Still, with such a crowded field, it will make the holiday season interesting as a number of the big titles will again hit during this timeframe for the platform.