The new year is upon us and 2011 looks to have a great lineup of games coming our way on the Xbox 360. Quite a few blockbuster titles are set for release from spring until fall and there are even a few sleeper hits we may mention that you may want to keep an eye on. We are surprised that there is not a whole lot of information regarding upcoming Kinect titles and the major push of software seems to be passed for the time being. Both PAX East and E3 should prove to be major announcement launching grounds. But for now we are going to run down through a lot of the titles we are looking forward to in 2011. We’re sure your list and anticipation may be different than ours but hopefully we will alert you to an upcoming title you may not have previously thought about.

EA is not disappointing anyone with their early announced lineup for 2011. We’ll see a new addition to the Fight Night series with Fight Night Champion. The trailers thus far have shown off some pretty interesting details including quite a story mode side of the game. Other EA titles that you should keep an eye out for would be Dragon Age 2, Shift 2, of course the entire sports lineup and what seems to be one of the most anticipated is Bulletstorm from Epic. What makes Bulletstorm so anticipated is the announcement that an invite to the Gears of Wars 3 beta will be included. So definitely keep your eyes open for that one. You could also toss in their Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 as very anticipated games as well, but Bulletstorm may capture a larger audience. Of course you’ll have the entire line of EA Sports titles including NBA Elite making its debut that it failed to make in 2011.

Commander Shepard is Back!

THQ also has quite a few big titles on the way in 2011. Red Faction sees a sequel in Armageddon which could prove to be a sleeper hit as Red Faction Guerrilla did. You’ll of course see a 2011 version of the infamous Smackdown vs Raw series, but my more anticipated wrestling title is WWE All Stars which seems to be an over the top take on the sport with larger than life representations of new and old WWE Superstars in a more arcade style fashion of gameplay. De Blob 2 along with a few other casual titles will show up in 2011 but THQ’s big money maker could come in the form of Homefront. Homefront is a shooter based on the occupation of the United States, similar to the movie Red Dawn. In fact, Red Dawn has influence on the game so definitely keep this one on your radar.

Ubisoft has not had many announcements yet of upcoming titles other than a second installment of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood could be on the way. There is not much information more than that but we expect to hear plenty in the coming months on that and Assassin’s Creed 3 for 2012 hopefully. We are hoping to see more of the new Ghost Recon game that seems to have faded off a little in information and publicity. You can also expect to see the new Driver: San Francisco unleashed to the world at some point this year too, we hope.

Will Duke Resurface in 2011? 2K Says He Will.

2K Games grabbed everyone’s attention at PAX in Seattle last year by unveiling Duke Nukem Forever. With an early release scheduled we still have yet to see much in the way of information on this game other than what was released last year. Will Duke in fact make an appearance or is this just a cruel joke on 2K’s part?  2K hasn’t mentioned much else on their release list other than their sports titles and the occasional mention of XCOM. So we’ll see what 2K has up their sleeves as the year progresses.

Rumor has is that there could be another Halo title in the mix for this year. Is it the remake of Halo Combat Evolved? Microsoft has been mum on any information pertaining to new titles, even Kinect titles. We would expect some announcements at CES, but more to come out of PAX East and E3. Now of course we expect to see Gears of War 3 in the fall, but we’re still waiting on any new information on that one.

There are a ton of other publishers out there that have good looking titles coming out in 2010. One of those titles we think you should definitely watch is Two Worlds II. The original Two Worlds had great premise and heart, but overall the game was just terrible and never ported well over from the PC. With an all new engine for each platform TopWare Interactive, Reality Pump and SouthPeak Games are releasing what appears to be a stellar RPG and one you shouldn’t miss if you are a fan of the genre.

Atari also has its big title coming early this year in Test Drive Unlimited 2. This massive online racing community/game looks to revolutionize everything you know about online racing and more. Integrating social aspects with top of the line cars and miles of road you’ll experience some of the best racing the Xbox 360 has to offer in TDU 2.

Off To A New Island We Go

A few fighters from the past will make their appearances and reinvigorate the franchises in 2011. From Capcom we’ll see Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and from Warner Brothers Interactive you’ll see Mortal Kombat which looks absolutely stunning. Mortal Kombat is definitely the more anticpated title for us and from we have played and seen it is going to blow everyone’s socks off when it hits consoles.

A few random games we would also like to toss out there for your awareness would be:  DiRT 3, Divinity II, Operation Flashpoint: Red River, SSX Deadly Descents, Metal Gear Solid Rising, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Insane. Now of course, you have your own anticipated titles and they may not match up with what we are really looking forward to and there is nothing wrong with that at all. Enjoy the upcoming year of games that are on tap and we are sure as the year goes on there will be even more games added to everyone’s lists.

Our Top Ten Most Anticipated Titles List
1. Bulletstorm - EA
2. Homefront - THQ
3. Gears of War 3 – Microsoft
4. Elder Scrolls V - Bethesda
5. Two Worlds II - Southpeak
6. Test Drive Unlimited 2 - Atari
7. Mortal Kombat – Warner Brothers Interactive
8. Crysis 2 - EA
9. LA Noire – Rockstar Games
10. Mass Effect 3 – EA
   
    Runner Ups: Portal 2, Brink, SSX Deadly Ascents, Batman Arkham City, Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning