3 BIG Games release dates have been given to me today!
The First of whic is Diablo III
Reason Why Its Big/ Significant
Diablo is an isometric strategy RPG in which you use fantasy medieval weapons and spells to defeat hordes of monsters from hell through randomized dungeon levels, continuously gaining experience points, gold, and a variety of equipment to bolster your monster-killing potency along the way. Game History Released in 1997 for the PC (http://www.giantbomb.com/pc/60-94/) (and later the original Playstation (http://www.giantbomb.com/playstation/60-22/)), Diablo is a dark, gothic-fantasy game blending RPG and arcade elements to create an addictive (http://www.giantbomb.com/addiction/92-458/), highly re-playable game.
The original game was known for endless mouse-clicking " hack and slash (http://www.giantbomb.com/hack-and-slash/92-469/)" action in a single dungeon (http://www.giantbomb.com/dungeon/95-1131/) consisting of 16 levels. The dungeon is located under the town of Tristram (http://www.giantbomb.com/tristram/95-499/), a sparsely populated town which consists of 6 NPC's (http://www.giantbomb.com/non-player-character/92-967/) who serve primarily as shop keepers (http://www.giantbomb.com/merchants/92-806/) to buy and sell (http://www.giantbomb.com/trade-goods/92-5287/) adventuring equipment to the PCs and give out the occasional quest. Critics of the game will point to this lack of interaction within the game and the focus on mouse-clicking, killing things and taking their stuff as weaknesses in the game, while fans of the game will point to these same elements as the core of the game's addictive gameplay. Owners of the game could create a "spawn" version for their friends to use. The spawned version was mostly an extensive demo.
Diablo was both popular and influential, spawning a number of sequels (http://www.giantbomb.com/sequel/92-3178/) and spin-offs, including Diablo: Hellfire (http://www.giantbomb.com/diablo-hellfire-bundle/61-17752/), a licensed add-on to the original game produced by Sierra Entertainment (http://www.giantbomb.com/sierra-entertainment-inc/65-1030/) rather than the original development team of Blizzard North (http://www.giantbomb.com/blizzard-north/65-1176/).
Finally the game spawned two direct sequels: Diablo II (http://www.giantbomb.com/diablo-ii/61-1119/) (which saw an official expansion (http://www.giantbomb.com/diablo-ii-lord-of-destruction/61-15589/) created by Blizzard (http://www.giantbomb.com/blizzard-entertainment/65-1088/)) and the upcoming Diablo III (http://www.giantbomb.com/diablo-iii/61-20803/).
Information ripped from http://www.giantbomb.com/diablo/61-5985/ (http://www.giantbomb.com/diablo/61-5985/) (for tose of you who want to read more)
Halo 4
Reason Why its BIG/ significant
Halo is a multi-billion dollar fiction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiction) video game franchise created by Bungie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie) and now managed by 343 Industries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/343_Industries) and owned by Microsoft Studios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Studios_(game_studio)). The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_(Halo)). The Covenant are led by their leaders, The Prophets, and worship an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forerunner_(Halo)), who perished in combat with the parasitic Flood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_(Halo)). Many of the games center on the experiences of Master Chief (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Chief_(Halo)) John-117, a cybernetically (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics)-enhanced human super-soldier, and his artificial intelligence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence) (AI) companion, Cortana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana). The term "Halo" refers to Halo megastructures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(megastructure)): large, habitable ringed structures, similar to the Orbitals in Iain M Banks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_M_Banks)' Culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture) novels, or author Larry Niven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven)'s Ringworld (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringworld).[1][2]
The series has been praised as being among the best first-person shooters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter) on a video game console (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console), and is considered the Microsoft Xbox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox)'s "killer app (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_app)".[3] This has led to the term "Halo killer" being used to describe console games that aspire, or are considered, to be better than Halo.[4] Fueled by the success of Halo: Combat Evolved (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved), and immense marketing campaigns from publisher Microsoft, its sequels went on to break various sales records. Halo 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3) sold more than US$ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar)170 million worth of copies in the first twenty-four hours of release, breaking the record set by Halo 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_2) three years prior.[5][6] Halo: Reach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Reach), in turn, broke the record set by Halo 3, selling $200 million USD worth of copies on its first day of release.[7] The games have sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and all Halo merchandise has grossed almost $3 billion.
Strong sales of the games led to the franchise's expansion to other mediums; there are multiple bestselling novels, graphic novels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_novel), and other licensed products (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Halo_media). Beyond the original trilogy, other "Halo" games have branched off into other video game genres (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genre), including Halo Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_Wars), a real-time strategy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_strategy) game produced as developer Ensemble Studios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensemble_Studios)' last project. Bungie also contributed the expansion Halo 3: ODST (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3:_ODST) and a prequel Halo: Reach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Reach), their last project for the franchise. A high-definition remake of the first game entitled Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved_Anniversary) was released in November 2011. A new installment in a second trilogy of games, Halo 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_4), is currently in development.
The cultural impact of the Halo series has been compared by writer Brian Bendis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Bendis) to that of Star Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars).[8] The collective group of fans of the series is referred to as the "Halo Nation".[9][10]
This information was ripped from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(series) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(series))the link if if you want to read more
I will personally review this game apon its release.
Guild Wars II
Reason Why its BIG/ significant
Guild Wars From Guild Wars Wiki Jump to: navigation (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars#column-one), search (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars#searchInput) (http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/thumb/6/67/Disambig_icon.png/19px-Disambig_icon.png) (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Disambig_icon.png) This article is about the game series titled Guild Wars. For other uses, see Guild Wars (disambiguation) (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_(disambiguation)).
(http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/thumb/6/69/Guild_Wars_Prophecies_logo.png/180px-Guild_Wars_Prophecies_logo.png) (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Guild_Wars_Prophecies_logo.png) (http://wiki.guildwars.com/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png) (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Guild_Wars_Prophecies_logo.png)Guild Wars logo Guild Wars is a CORPG (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/CORPG), or Competitive/Cooperative Online Role Playing Game developed for Windows by ArenaNet (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/ArenaNet) and published by NCsoft (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/NCsoft). The first campaign (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Campaign) of Guild Wars, Guild Wars Prophecies (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Prophecies) was released on April 28, 2005. The different genre was chosen (as opposed to the classic "Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) RPG") due to the perceived differences between the game and other, more traditional MMOs: the focus on Player versus Player (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Player_versus_Player) (PvP) rather than Player versus Environment (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Player_versus_Environment) (PvE) play made it almost a unique case at the time, players received their own instanced (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Instance) copy of explorable zones and parties (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Party) were limited to 8 players each, a tiny number compared to the massive caps of other games, which often allowed for up to 64 players in a single party (and unlimited players in non-instanced zones, which were the norm).
Guild Wars does not have a monthly subscription fee; there is only a one time cost of purchasing the game. It uses a campaign-based model, where each campaign allows a player (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Player) to play the story with the professions (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Profession) available to that campaign.
The game was designed from the ground up to be a competitive multi-player experience, focusing on high-level combat between two or more parties focusing more on player skill and innovative play rather than equipment, time played or sheer numbers, a stark contrast to other MMOs of the time. The game introduced revolutionary concepts such as protection (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Protection_Prayers) and allowed casters to spend the majority of a fight casting. Other MMOs of the time relied on defensive characters out-healing their opponent's damage in what amounted to be a "red-barring" contest that focused less on skill and more on level and attrition. Additionally, casters were often forced to spend significant portions of every fight waiting for (the equivalents of) energy (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Energy) to regenerate or skills (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Skill) to recharge (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Recharge). Guild Wars changed this by introducing effective forms of energy management, such as Attunements (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Attunement) and Inspiration Magic (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Inspiration_Magic), as well as a considerably higher rate of regeneration (and lower maximum energy pool) than other games allowed.
After the release of Guild Wars Nightfall (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Nightfall), development goals seemed to shift towards a more traditional MMO-styled experience, introducing concepts such as grind (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Grind) and PvE-only skills (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/PvE-only_skill), as well as adding heroes (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Hero), computer-controlled allies that could be extensively customized by players, not unlike traditional henchmen (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Henchmen). Reactions have been mixed, with proponents praising the ability for players to play the game without relying on the unstable, unreliable and often unhelpful henchmen, the beneficial effects of PvE skills and traditional "elite" dungeons and areas (such as the Domain of Anguish (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Domain_of_Anguish)). Others have criticized the difficulty heroes have introduced in finding human players to adventure with, the gradual power creep (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Power_creep) and the tendency for PvP matches to rely more upon player's builds (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Build) than their personal skill.
This information was ripped from http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars) If you want to read it all
None of these dates are 100% confirmed but thankfully with news of their releases, they WILL come out soon ;D
I dont normally do all this for games, but these three were special ;)
Not that Im worried of being accused but the links given are referance links, not advertising links
OP;
Is this... IS IT?
(http://thebarking.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/bancomicsans.jpg)
But really though, there are several great games coming out, I just hope I'll finish my backlog before I get to these.