It’s almost October, which means that everyone is already gearing up for the big holiday shopping season. One of the biggest elements to any holiday shopping season since the mid 80’s is games, and this year looks like it will not disappoint when it comes to available titles.

Nielsen has put out their Top 20 Games to Watch for Holiday 2011 list, and it looks like the boys at Activision have to most coveted game of the season.

The latest edition to the Call of Duty Series, Modern Warfare 3 is the most wanted game of the holidays.

Nielsen surveyed 5,000 active gamers in August and September about which games (released between August and November) they are most likely to purchase this holiday season. They then ranked the titles based on how many people surveyed put it in their top 5. Leading the way with 27% appearance in tops 5s was Modern Warfare 3. Gears of War 3 and Madden NFL 12 tied for second place with 19% of people putting it in their top 5.

It’s definitely interesting to see Battlefield 3 all the way down at the 7 spot with 12%. There’s been a significant amount of internet buzz surrounding this game and the gameplay trailers look absolutely incredible.

It’s also important to note that there is only one game in the top 20 that isn’t part of a franchise. Dead Island is the only standalone game that falls on the most-wanted list. We learned recently that Lionsgate has optioned the rights for a Dead Island film based mostly on the award-winning trailer.

Part of the Nielsen data included impressions from 417 million online conversations. These were used to show what, specifically, gamers were excited about when it comes to each title. For instance, most people are excited about new villains when it comes to Batman: Arkham City, and most Madden NFL 12’ers are planning on calling in sick to work to play the game.