Games That Might Get Delayed to 2012

The year 2011 is looking very prodigious as far as the gaming world is concerned. Last year’s E3 unveiled some real heavyweights games, many being sequels with gazillions of fans edging to get their hands on them. But like every year, we’re expecting some games to be pushed back and miss their target release dates. Apart from the officially delayed games, we’re suspecting that these games are probable to face the delay hammer, and eventually get pushed to 2012.

Duke Nukem Forever
It would not surprise even one person in the gaming world if Gearbox Software creates the game, plans a release date, and just a day before it decides to scrap the entire thing and recreate it from scratch. We’ve been hearing about Duke Nukem Forever since pretty much forever – and the anticipation has sort of become a frustration.

Heck, we’ve heard and then unheard that the whole game’s been terminated over and over again, and that just makes it impossible to guess whether this game will truly ever make it, or just stay a hypothetical candidate for being released the way it always has.

Mass Effect 3
Bioware isn’t known for delays, but this game makes it onto the list because there is simply too less known about it, apart from whatever we saw in the brief but captivating teaser. The normal but unofficial procedures of Bioware are to first bombard everyone with information about their games one year before their release, so much that you wish it were there in your hands right at that moment.

But for Mass Effect 3 Bioware’s been awfully quiet, and that only means that they aren’t too ready to release the game anytime soon. Either way it’s fair enough to give Bioware some breathing space, as expecting a quality sequel to be released within the span of one year is a rather hefty demand.

Diablo III
The ones who don’t deserve some breathing place are the Blizzard folks, because they’ve had too much of it. We’ve been tortured about Diablo 3’s release since God-knows-when – and the torture is still continuing on. Just about everyone is agitated by Blizzard’s it’ll come out soon technique, which has kept us constantly on the edge of our seats, so much that we’re likely to fall off.

It would be no surprise if Diablo 3 gets delayed till 2012; after all we’ve been witnessing this practice of them keeping us in the dark for a long, long time now.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Bethesda claims a very neat release date of 11/11/11 for the fifth installment in this RPG series. But we can’t help but feel that it’s a date that will be easily missed, since the company has a past history of delaying their games every time. They won’t take too much of a blame if the game gets delayed till the January of 2012.

Max Payne 3
We’ve been hearing about a third installment of Max Payne for quite a while, and this is the 3^rd time that it’s been delayed. Originally set to be released in 2009, the game was delayed every year. Now it’s 2011, and we’ve been forced to make a habit of anticipating another delay.

There have been no pre-released marketing plans executed by the developers, and the game seems almost graved. In fact, this game has been removed from Take-Two’s 2011-2012 release schedule altogether, making a release next year equally questionable. The lack of knowing so little about the game and its past delays make it almost certain that this game isn’t coming out too soon.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Whether this game should be on this list or not is indeed a debatable subject, but there are many reasons to cause enough doubt about Skyward Sword’s release this year, and vice versa. Technically, and financially, this game should get released this year, as this is the big thing from Nintendo, and they’ll be looking forward to it giving them lots of profit.

However, this itself can act as a reason for the delay, as the game’s current outlook is very questionable, and developers will be wanting to spend as much time as possible to make this a true Zelda experience – without any hiccups. If Zelda would need more time to cook, Nintendo will make sure it gets exactly that.

The Last Guardian
Why is this game going to get delayed? Because it is wanted so bad, and the more you want something, the harder it is to attain it. The Last Guardian impressed just about everyone who saw or read anything regarding it, and we can’t help but fear the probability of its release date being pushed into 2012.

To be bluntly honest it’s only fair on the game itself – and as to some extent – that it gets a release date that is not the one it has, since the holiday season will be overly crowded with new releases; and neither the developers nor we would like to have this game overshadowed by others.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldiers
Future Soldiers has already had itself pushed a few times, but a 2011 release seems improbable because there has been barely any pre-release marketing after last year’s E3. There is just not enough content regarding this game that has been made public to ensure a 2011 release. Additionally Ubisoft is already planning to release their next Assassin’s Creed, so they might just be content on doing one big game at a time, rather than releasing two potentially blockbuster games back to back.

Battlefield 3
DICE has been very, very busy, and because of that the delay of Battlefield 3 is a possibility. The certainly blew us away with the gameplay trailers and all, but it only makes sense if this game is released a little later than its due date. The developers have promised that it will be a definite revolution for the first person shooter genre; that means a lot of work in making the online experience an absolute blast, and creating a very intriguing single player.

DICE might just feel that the holiday release date for this game is premature, or that it deserves a more isolated release date, one that isn’t accompanied by too many other probable blockbuster releases. Can’t say for sure about this, but it does make a good candidate for the delay push.

Silent Hill: Downpour
Little is known about this game, and apart from a few limited details and claims, developers haven’t really made an effort to market this next installment in the long-running Silent Hill franchise. Summer is not too far away, and we’re guessing that if it doesn’t get release date in the summer, it doesn’t get released this year at all, since we’ve got real heavy mammoth games coming out this year particularly in the fourth quarter.

We usually don’t see delays for Silent Hill games, considering the fact that a new one has been coming every year for the last four years, but it’d be a rather wise to give the series a one year rest, put more effort in it, and release it some time other than the fourth quarter of this year, as a summer release is looking obscure and unlikely.