Games of the Future
I thought I’d take a quick look at what games are coming down the line in the near future that I have a strong interest in playing. I might make this a theme this week and look at some other things and maybe look at some favorites from the past. You’ll just have to wait and see if that happens.
Release: Holiday 2011 (ie anytime from Halloween to New Years)
I just figured I’d get this one out of the way first. It’s a pretty obvious one. No need to go into any detail on why I’m interested in this one.
Release: Q4-2011
I discovered the X-series of space games back in 2006 with X and then later player X3-Terran Conflict. I’ve had a fun history with this genre of games (Escape Velocity or Starflight anyone?). Ironically enough, I’ve never gotten into EVE, despite it being the MMO version of these types of games.
The thing I really enjoyed about the X-series was the ability to build up an entire fleet of ships, and a large system of space stations. Setting up ships to go deliver goods for you while you blew up bad guys. It was a challenge getting everything right and the possibilities were endless.
Of course, so were the control menus. That was the biggest downside, not the most user friendly control interface. With luck X-Rebirth will improve that. And I’m really hopeful they improve how you place space stations. I want something that looks nice, not something that looks like a really young kid just threw together some tinker toys.
Release: Nov. 11, 2011
We come to the first game on the list with an actual confirmed release date. That’s always a plus. X-Rebirth will probably be 2012 sometime for the US release. I started with the Elder Scrolls series with Morrowind on the X-box. It was fun, I liked being able to fly, but I enjoyed Oblivion more. Partially because I got Oblivion on the PC. I seem to like the mouse and keyboard better than an X-box controller.
Elder Scrolls is a similar type game to the X-series, just with magic instead of space ships. Go and do what you want. Elder Scrolls definitely has a better story and character interactions though. Developing fun spell combos is also a blast. Though, I hope they improve the spells some what. In Oblivion I learned how to enchant my armor with a high Chameleon spell that made me invisible, and therefore immune, to everything. Got really boring after that.
Release: Sept 27, 2011
This will be the first game to come out, and I have already pre-ordered. The pre-order bonuses were nice as it finally gave me a horse that didn’t look boring. I never bothered trying to acquire any of the special mounts in the game.
My history with LOTRO has been off and on. I dove into the game during late beta and played for several months. This was the first MMO my wife ever played and my sister played as well. Some other friends were playing, but they ended up on a different server. I think I got into the 30’s before I quit for 6 months or so. When Forochel area was added, I came back and got into the mid 40’s. Then I quit again until Moria was released.
With Moria I finally hit 50, and went all the way to the cap of 60. Then quit again. When Mirkwood was added, I played through the Lothlorien area and Mirkwood to get to 65. Quit again and just recently started playing again. I’ve got through the Endewaith region and am working on fine tuning my Legendary items in anticipation of Isengard. The quest chains in LOTRO are always fun to do but its never really had staying power for me.
So those are the games I am eagerly anticipating. That’s a lot to play.
