| 15 January 2011
January is always an exciting month in video games - not because anything especially awesome usually comes out (we're reeling from holidays for the most part), but because we can finally get our heads back in the game and map out the rest of the year. Personally, I have a hard time tracking down all of the announcements during the big game conferences throughout the year, so I always look forward to someone else doing all the legwork. GamesRadar has posted an inspiring list of their most anticipated games of 2011, and there are some exciting titles on there.
First of all, there seems to be a lot of rookie JRPG titles coming out in the next year, from some big league designers. The picture above is from Ni no Kuni, which is co-developed by Level-5 (Dark Cloud, the latest Dragon Quest game) and Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away). In the game, you play as a young boy whose mother dies as the results of his actions. It hasn't been announced for the US yet, but I think it will be. Also, the Wii is going to release a game called The Last Story which is helmed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, directing his first game since back in the day when he directed the first FIVE Final Fantasy games (he also came up with the concepts for Final Fantasies 7/9 and Parasite Eve).
On the Western RPG front (besides the obvious - Mass Effect 3), there is one title that piqued my interest, an RPG called The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. Before you scoff at it, bear in mind that the studio is taking cues from BioWare's dialogue system, and the trailer makes the game look pretty fun. And definitely gory.
Also, XBLA/PSN seems to be getting some RPG excitement this year, with Dust: An Elysian Tail, which features side-scrolling melee combat and some really impressive hand-drawn graphics:
A lot of long-anticipated titles are scheduled to come out this year as well, including Rage, Bulletstorm, The Last Guardian, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright (I KNOW!), L.A. Noire and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Along the way we'll be treated with sequels aplenty. Here are just a few that I'm looking forward to - Resistance 3, inFamous 2, Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, Portal 2, and Mass Effect 3.
What are you looking forward to the most? What games do you think will inevitably miss their scheduled release date?
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