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GAF, will this be the best year in gaming for you? If not, what was?

S

shinobi602

Member
I know, "people say that every year!" and these topics probably spring up often, but I just recently started jotting down all the games that will be out or have already come out in 2011....and I'm stunned. Everybody has different tastes, but damn, this is incredible.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mass Effect 3
Brink
Infamous 2
Dead Space 2
LittleBigPlanet 2
Dark Souls
Killzone 3
Bulletstorm
L.A. Noire
Gears of War 3
Portal 2
Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Rage
The Witcher 2
Saint's Row: The Third
SSX: Deadly Descents
Total War: Shogun 2
Dungeon Siege III
Alice: Madness Returns
MotorStorm: Apocalypse
Max Payne 3
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
SOCOM 4
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
DiRT 3
Silent Hill: Downpour
F.E.A.R. 3
Shadows of the Damned
Red Faction: Armageddon
Forza Motorsport 4
Resistance 3
Twisted Metal
Mortal Kombat
Child of Eden
Tomb Raider
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Crysis 2
Battlefield 3
Duke Nukem Forever
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Last Guardian (hopefully)
Batman: Arkham City
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus: The Collection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best year confirmed? I really don't remember one specific year where I was excited for this many games. I mean literally every game there in that list that hasn't already come out, I'm anticipating.

Do you agree? What year was the year for you?
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
shinobi602 said:
Mass Effect 3
Dead Space 2
Dark Souls
Killzone 3
Bulletstorm
L.A. Noire
Gears of War 3
Portal 2
Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Rage
The Witcher 2
Total War: Shogun 2
Dungeon Siege III
Red Faction: Armageddon
Crysis 2
Battlefield 3
Duke Nukem Forever
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Batman: Arkham City
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus: The Collection
Click to expand...
Interesting, I cut it down to those games that at least interest me (which usually gets it down to <10% of the initial batch), but there's still a lot of stuff left over.

And when you then consider that this is only a small portion of the games that actually interest me because the OP's list is pretty narrow in scope, mostly listing big budget games... yeah, not looking too bad.
 
P

Prophet Steve

Member
Yes, for me it will be. I also have been able to use the first few months to work away a lot of my backlog. But that will change soon.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
2008, in no particular order and off the top of my head, had:

Far Cry 2
Fable 2
Dead Space
Mirror's Edge
Battlefield: Bad Company
Fallout 3

Tough year to beat.
 
A

Anticitizen One

Banned
Lets see:

Duke Nukem Forever, Mortal Kombat, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Twisted Metal, bunch of awsome 3DS games, and who knows whats getting unvieled at e3. Not to mention whats already been released (Dead Space 2, Lbp 2).

2010 was a good year. 2011 is the best year in gaming history since the 90s era

Guileless said:
Every year this is discussed, and every year 1998 still bests all comers.
Click to expand...

2011 is what 1998 should have been. We finally get Duke Nukem Forever and Ocarina of Time in 3D!
 
LQX

LQX

Member
This year does indeed have amazing games already out and coming but so far I have been just going through my backlog of amazing games from last year I got for $10-$20 from Amazon Christmas sales. I'm half through most now.
 
Z

zlatko

Banned
It could be. This is the single biggest year I can think of that just had every genre I'm interested in having 3+ games I can't wait to get my hands on.

The problem with a year like this is what if it becomes the standard? Getting a year like this once every 5 years let's say is great, because my wallet can handle it. Getting a year like this over and over is a shame, because developers I want to support might be getting rentals on their games due to release windows and my budget.
 
C

Colocho

Banned
On GAF, every current year is "OMG this will be the best year in gaming evar!!" solely for the fact that unreleased games seem to be some sort of drug in this place, as opposed to released games that after a few months, are rarely spoken of again.
 
S

StuBurns

Banned
Many of my favorite games, Portal, Flower, Ico, Rez, Deus Ex and Braid, are getting sequels, spiritual sequels, new games from the same creative team etc this year. And every month has a must buy. It's looking like the best year ever, but who knows, a lot of it could end up being shit.
 
M

Magnus

Member
I think 2007 was the king for me. Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy, Orange Box...what a rich fall/winter that was, especially with two systems freshly launched just months before.

2001's Ico, Silent Hill 2, FFX, Devil May Cry and GTAIII make that a strong competitor too.

I think I was too young to understand how rich to the brim 1998 was. Starcraft, Half-Life, MGS and Ocarina were definitely huge, and enough to make that year one of the best, but aside from MGS, I didn't really invest myself body & soul into any of them, except MGS, though I did finish all of them. Ocarina just wasn't the second coming everyone said it was.
 
C

Captain Pants

Killed by a goddamned Dredgeling
For me, Dark Souls, Skyrim and Battlefield make it a solid contender for best year ever. I'm so excited about those three that I forget about "little" games like Uncharted 3, Arkham Asylum and god knows what else.
 
V

Vinci

Danish
shinobi602 said:
LittleBigPlanet 2
Dark Souls
Portal 2
The Witcher 2
Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Last Guardian (hopefully)
Click to expand...

Eh. Not impressed. Although Dark Souls and Last Guardian in the same year would be boss.
 
C

CyReN

Member
Neuromancer said:
2008, in no particular order and off the top of my head, had:

Far Cry 2
Fable 2
Dead Space
Mirror's Edge
Battlefield: Bad Company
Fallout 3

Tough year to beat.
Click to expand...

Don't know what to say..

This year is stacked, still think 04' is my favorite since the amount of time I put in to just these games below.

Halo 2
Half Life 2
GTA San Andreas
Fable
 
Z

Zep

Banned
2004...First year of college, so my student refund money got me:

GTA San Andreas

Def Jam Fight for NY

Halo duece

Chronicals Of Riddick

Not many games but all of them were great.
 
V

vulva

Member
1990's hard to beat.

Startropics
Nintendo World Cup
Mega Man 3
Ninja Gaiden 2
Little Nemo: Dream Master

EDIT: Totally forgot about Snow Bros
 
K

Korigama

Member
As far as this generation goes, 2010 stood out the most for me (not really sold on 2011 outside of a scant few releases). Otherwise, I wouldn't pick a single year to summarize my entire span as a gamer.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
That's one hell of a line up. LBP2 and Bulletstorm were superb, and games like Witcher 2, Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls and Skyrim are sure to be amazing as well.

maybe it is the highest amount of quality games released within an arbitrary time period
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
Colocho said:
On GAF, every current year is "OMG this will be the best year in gaming evar!!" solely for the fact that unreleased games seem to be some sort of drug in this place, as opposed to released games that after a few months, are rarely spoken of again.
Click to expand...
iAgree
 
W

wayward archer

Member
This year does look pretty good.

Also to add to your list some more that I am interested in:

Dead Island
Hunted: The Demon's Forge
Earth Defense Force - Insect Armageddon
Devil's Third
Diablo 3 ?
Hitman 5
Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword
Red Orchestra Heroes of Stalingrad
Journey
Torchlight 2
Battleblock Theater
 
S

SykoTech

Member
I don't really keep track of how awesome a year's releases are. Not to mention I'm cheap, meaning I usually miss out on a number of significant releases and buy them the next year.

That said, this year is looking pretty damn good. LittleBigPlanet 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 3 alone have already made it a good year for me. Then there's Batman: Arkham City, R&C: All 4 One, ICO Collection (never played them before), and BG&E (ditto) which I'll be grabbing as soon as possible. And finally, a slew of games which I most likely will buy at some point in time like SSX, Twisted Metal, Sonic Generations, Journey, Portal 2, etc. All that plus my backlog? Can't remember ever being this overwhelmed.

Definitely an excellent year if things go undelayed. If The Last Guardian actually makes it out this year, then it could very well be "the best".
It won't though.
 
Xilium

Xilium

Member
Not sure what my favorite year is (mostly likely some point in the 90's though) but it isn't this year. Only games I care for on that list are Elder Scrolls 5 and Witcher 2.
 
S

Shalashaska161

Member
I really enjoyed last year, but this year's kind of sucked so far. Nothing's blown me away so far, and there hasn't been any nice surprises like Deadly Premonition or Nier either. Even the 3DS has been pretty disappointing. It's a cool system but I have no desire to play any of the current games for it. It's still pretty early though, and taking a look at the OP's list of upcoming big stuff there are a couple thing's that look decent. I'm interesting in:

L.A. Noire
Silent Hill: Downpour
Mortal Kombat
Duke Nukem Forever
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Last Guardian
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
 
R

Reluctant-Hero

Member
Guileless said:
Every year this is discussed, and every year 1998 still bests all comers.
Click to expand...
/thread, right? So much truth in that statement.

But, yeah, '11 is looking good. Personally I'm stoked for the following

TES V: Skyrim
Mass Effect 3
Gears of War 3
Uncharted 3
inFamous 2
The Last Guardian
LoZ: OoT 3D
Star Fox 64 3D
Kid Icarus Uprising
Final Fantasy Type-0
SSX
 
K

kswiston

Member
We just had a similar thread, But I am pretty sure the best two years in gaming for me were 1998 and 2001. For this gen, 2007 is going to be hard to beat.

Fake Edit: My post from last thread

kswiston said:
1998 (North America)
- Metal gear Solid
- Xenogears
- Might and Magic VI
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Zelda: OOT
- Tekken 3
- Starcraft
- Spyro
- Pokemon Red/Blue
- Resident Evil 2
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Unreal
- Fallout 2
- Grim Fandango
- Half-life
- Thief
- Baldur's Gate
- Rainbow 6

2001 (North America)
- Phantasy Star Online
- Paper Mario
- Conker's Bad Fur Day
- Onimusha
- Twisted Metal Black
- Gran Turismo 3
- Final Fantasy X
- Max Payne
- Arcanum
- Shogun: Total War
- Advance Wars
- Silent Hill 2
- Ico
- Devil May Cry
- Grand Theft Auto 3
- Tony Hawk 3
- Civilization 3
- Dragon Quest VII
- SSX Tricky
- Golden Sun
- Metal Gear Solid 2
- Halo
- Frequency
- Smash Bros Melee
- Pikmen

2007 (North America)
- Phoenix Wright: Justice for All
- Hotel Dusk
- Motorstorm
- God of War 2
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- Guitar Hero 3
- Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
- Etrian Odyssey
- Forza 2
- Picross DS
- Persona 3
- Bioshock
- Metroid Prime 3
- Warhawk
- Halo 3
- Portal
- Team Fortress 2
- Half-life 2: Episode 2
- Zack and Wiki
- Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations
- Ratchet and Clank Future
- the Witcher
- Call of Duty 4
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Contra 4
- Crysis
- Assassins Creed
- Rockband
- Uncharted
- Mass Effect
Click to expand...


While this year looks to be a good one, I am sure half the games listed in the OP will be disappointing. Also, ports don't really count in my book.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
shinobi602 said:
Mass Effect 3
Infamous 2
L.A. Noire
Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
The Witcher 2
Saint's Row: The Third
Dungeon Siege III
Max Payne 3
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Batman: Arkham City
Grim Dawn
Torchlight 2
Anarchy Reigns
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Click to expand...
Eh. I can't recall any year being that much better than any before it.

Also I doubt TOR will be out this year. I'm still on the fence about Max Payne 3, Space Marine, and Dungeon Siege 3.
 
D

Dennis

Banned
Mass Effect 3
Dark Souls
Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
The Witcher 2
Saint's Row: The Third
Total War: Shogun 2
Tomb Raider
Crysis 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Batman: Arkham City
Risen 2
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
Dead Island
Dead State
Battlefield 3


Yeah, looks like could be a fabulous year. Really needed GTA V and Half-life 3 to make it the year of the forever.
 
K

kodt

Banned
shinobi602 said:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mass Effect 3 - Should be good
Brink - Could be a great MP FPS but I doubt I will have time to play it much
Infamous 2 - Looks like it is making improvements. I am looking forward to it
Dead Space 2 - Haven't played it yet, looks like more of the same but I want to try it.
LittleBigPlanet 2 - Liked the first one, another game I have no time to play
Dark Souls - Highly anticipating this one
Killzone 3 - Looks like it made no improvements over KZ2
Bulletstorm - Tried the demo, thought it sucked. Gameplay was not fun. Jokes were immature
L.A. Noire - Could be great, waiting to see.
Gears of War 3 - I expect another quality campaign, but I'll play it once and never touch it again unless it somehow goes way beyond the prior games
Portal 2 - Highly anticipating this one
Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Highly anticipating this one
Rage - Anticipating this one, worried that gameplay wont be that special though
The Witcher 2 - Anticipating this one, still need to beat the first one though
Saint's Row: The Third - Not interested at all really. The prior games were fun to mess around in but I could never get into the missions or story.
SSX: Deadly Descents - I liked the first 2 SSX games, I'll try it if I hear good things
Total War: Shogun 2 - I'm sure it is good but I don't think I have the time to invest in it.
Dungeon Siege III - Unsure since it isn't being developed by GPG. Only interested in COOP.
Alice: Madness Returns - Never beat the first one, looks interesting though.
MotorStorm: Apocalypse - Not interested, I think the Motorstorm games have bad controls/physics and just are not very fun.
Max Payne 3 - Looked iffy, now it seems they are going back to the nior style? Wait and see on this one.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon - Not really interested. I enjoyed AC4 but don't have any motivation to play another.
SOCOM 4 - Never played the series, no interest.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - No interest in the series after GRAW.
DiRT 3 - More rally. This = good. Looking forward to it.
Silent Hill: Downpour - Have only played Silent Hill 2, feel like I am way behind on the series to really play a new one.
F.E.A.R. 3 - Getting sick of this series, The first one was great. The second was ok. Not too interested in this one.
Shadows of the Damned - Not a big fan of Suda51 stuff but this looks interesting.
Red Faction: Armageddon - Again, feel like I need to catch up on the series. But after trying Guerrilla I am not too interested.
Forza Motorsport 4 - I like racing games but barely played 3 even.
Resistance 3 - Enjoyed the first two, but I don't really need another.
Twisted Metal - Meh
Mortal Kombat - Looks awesome, I just want to try it out though.
Child of Eden - Not familiar with it.
Tomb Raider - Haven't payed a TR game since 2. Feel like I need to play more of the series.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - Could be great, probably not going to invest time in an MMO right now though.
Crysis 2 - Waiting for DX11 patch on PC then I'll play. Mostly just interested in the visuals.
Battlefield 3 - Could be amazing.
Duke Nukem Forever - Will play for the sake of it.
Kid Icarus: Uprising - Never played the original so not much interest.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Has potential to be great or disappointed. Waiting for reviews and commentary from players
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Looking forward to it.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Looking forward to it
The Last Guardian (hopefully) - Highly anticipating.
Batman: Arkham City - Arkham Asylum was great, if this lives up to it I will enjoy it.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - If it plays like Dark Alliance it should be fun coop.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Not interested
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS - Looks great, not sure if it is worth buying a 3DS though.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds - Might be fun with friends but not a game I would put much time into.
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus: The Collection - Played them already. Nice this is coming though.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click to expand...

best year? Not really. Too many sequels to games that don't need sequels yet.
 
M

Mr. B Natural

Member
Considering the entire industry is more or less out of ideas, I'm gonna go with no.

Is it gonna beat 2010 as the most overhyped and congested year ever? You betcha. And 2012 will beat this year. And 2013 will beat that. I don't even know what's coming out then, but I do know it doesn't matter. As long as there's a number at the end of the title.
Though, so far, it's the year of the 85 review. Let's go overhyped but slightly disappointing AAA title extravaganza! Gimme a hip-hip-hooray! It's like even the critics can't force their pants to wet as easily as before. What are they paying you for? Get the masses excited! Push push push.
 
K

KAL2006

Banned
It will be one of the best years

these are my top ones
Marvel VS Capcom 3 (already out)
LittleBigPlanet 2 (already out)
Twisted Metal
Mortal Kombat
Uncharted 3
Batman Arkham City
Dark Souls
Deus Ex HR
Battlefield 3
Last Guardian (if it makes it)
Nino Kuni (if it makes it)
Virtua Tennis 4
Tekken Tag 2 (if it makes it)
Torchlight 2
Mass Effect 3

these are ones that look promising but need to know more
Shadows of the Damned
Ghost Recon
Tomb Raider
Duke Nukem
Rage
Space Marine
FEAR 3
Sorcery
inFamous 2
El Shaddai

these are my will get when it is dirt cheap
Killzone 3 (already out)
ICO & Shadow of Colosus
Saints Row The Third
Portal 2
The Witcher 2
Crysis 2
Elder Scrolls Skyrim
LA Noir
Red Faction
Gears of War 3
BulletStorm (already out)
Ratchet All 4 One

you forgot tons of handheld games like
Radiant Historia
Pokemon Black/White
Dissidia 012
Legend of Heroes Trails of the Sky
Tactics Ogre
Okamiden

however 2012 will be amazing because of 1 game and that is Diablo 3, and I bet Last Guardian comes out in 2012, and I bet that Mario 3DS platformer comes out in 2012, then of course we are going to get Guild Wars 2 in 2012 as well as Street fighter X Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, Devils Third, MGS Rising and some of those new Capcom games that got announced today and etc. So 2012 seems to be quality as well.

It seems we are at a stage of the gen were we keep getting quality games, I feel that I am overwhelmed and it is too much awesome, I will probably pick the cream of the crop for most of thegames and just buy the rest when they go dirt cheap, basically too many games, and not enough time to play them all.

EDIT: went back to see the other years, and in terms of quantity, this year has much to offer, this could easily be the best year of all time for games
 
K

kswiston

Member
ronito said:
Every year gets better but mainly because my PS classics/VC collection keeps getting bigger.
Click to expand...

I think Digital Downloads will be what this gen is remembered for. More exposure for great indie titles and being able to buy classic SNES/PS1 jrpgs for $5-10 (instead of $25-150 on Ebay) are two huge wins in my book.
 
S

Salsa

Member
gamescom-portal-2-img77789.jpg


we'll see...
 
P

PigSpeakers

Member
This year, starting with Christmas from 2010.

I finally got a PS3, and was able to catch up on some stuff I missed, namely:
-Uncharted
-Uncharted 2
-LBP
-LBP 2
Sure, not all of those are from this year, but hey, its the first year I played them. And Uncharted 3 is slated for later this year.


Not a whole lot, but those four games are awesome enough.

Also, the DS has one of my new favorite JRPGs of all time, Radiant Historia.
I don't really remember much else I played on DS from this year. I think most things I've played on there were in '10.

I finally played Super Metroid as well. And I see what everyone means. One of the best games I've ever played.

Then of course there's going to be the 3DS when I finally get around to purchasing one (studio comes first, then games and I need some near-fields).

Other than that, I dunno. It's kind of tied with 2010 right now, but then again, I've already experienced all of that year. This year is still up in the air for me.
 
J

JustAnotherOtaku

Member
1998 is still my favourite, but I will admit that nostalgia factors into that quite a bit. It was definitely a fantastic year for games, but nostalgia does comes into it.

That said, I think when I look back at this year, I will remember it as one of the best. 2007 and 2010 have been the best recent years for me and 2011 is shaping up to be even better - DS had a fantastic send-off, PS3 has a crazy amount of must play exclusives, the 360 and PSP are getting loads of great Japanese games and so on. Not to mention the multi platform stuff.
 
W

Wazzim

Banned
Too many games, I mean: Look at that list! Add the top DS and PSP games for this year and there is my backlog of 2012.. I would say 2008 was the best year.
 
V

Vinci

Danish
Listing 20 games and saying, "This will be the best year ever!" is crazy when most of those will be on your backlog for two or three years before you even get around to them. Dark Souls, alone, should take up to 6 months of your gaming life.
 
Grinchy

Grinchy

Banned
I only have a PS3 and yet it still look like a major year for gaming. In fact, there's too much coming out. I will have to pass on titles I would have really loved to play.

Don't forget about that Minecraft is finally coming out this year too!
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
2002 is probably my favourite. GameCube was the first console I had bought with my own money and after years of living off second hand SNES games this was the period I could start following new releases.

That and I knew many people in r/l who liked videogames so I could talk about it offline quite a bit. It was a great time.

As a Wii/PC gamers whose tastes don't reflect the masses this year doesn't look that exciting for me. 3DS launch will probably be the peak until Skyward Sword pops along.

I'll probably spend most of this year catching up on DS titles I missed.
 
W

Why For?

Banned
Doubt anything is going to top 2010.

For me, most of your list was a combination of fluff, fanboy hyperbole titles and games you just know aren't going to be that good.

2010 was just huge. Although 2011 did get a nice start with Dead Space 2.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Mr. B Natural said:
Considering the entire industry is more or less out of ideas, I'm gonna go with no.
Click to expand...

I don't think the industry is out of ideas, but I do think it is a bit funny when people use ports/remakes as a reason why a year will be great. I loved Tactics Ogre on PSP, but I can't be the only one who thinks it's a little sad that the best game on PSP in 2011 will likely be a remixed version of something that came out 15 years ago.

2007 wins this generation for me because so many of this gen's most important franchises either debuted or were re-born that year.
 
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