There were plenty of good fantasy/history releases, including the Unofficial Manual series, A Dance With Dragons, The Heroes and Skyrim.
This year Samurai (the latest Unofficial Manual) is set to be released in February, and in March the Game of Thrones DVD is finally released. Given it finished well in advance of December I’m surprised it wasn’t out for Christmas, but there we are.
Mass Effect 3 comes out in March. I don’t have either previous instalments, but they’re highly regarded and I might get ME3. I think there’s a Formula 1 2012 game, and if so it’ll almost certainly be out around September time. Hopefully the Bioware chaps will actually be given enough time to develop the next Dragon Age game instead of being made to rush it and compromising the game itself. I read somewhere or other that it might take on certain Skyrim elements regarding a more open world approach, and it would be interesting to see how they manage to marry the tightly scripted Dragon Age approach to a more free-flowing Elder Scrolls style.
There’s also another Tomb Raider reinvention, with an updated look for Miss Croft and a new voice actress (I do love Keeley Hawes’ voice), as well as some survival elements. According to Wikipedia, it should be out in the third quarter. The Last of Us, a survival story of a chap and a young girl who looks a bit like Ellen Page, might come out in late 2012 or early 2013. I can take or leave post-apocalypse stories, but it does look pretty good.
Obviously, I want to release Bane of Souls this year. I’ve got a few things to do first, though. For a start, getting a cover done, which means selecting an artist and then waiting probably at least a few weeks. Then I intend to look at making a basic little website for the book and subsequent ones, and I’ll need to format the text once the cover’s done. I’ve been fiddling with that for my Kindle, and I think it should be ok.
Then I want to start work on Altmortis. I’ve done much of the outline and background work already. Some of the cast were present in Bane of Souls, which will make it easier to write about them, and add some continuity as the setting changes. Like Bane of Souls, it’ll be a stand-alone book, but set in the same world.
I doubt I’ll be able to release Altmortis in 2012, but if I can publish Bane of Souls and get Altmortis’ text done I’ll be satisfied.
Thanks to the people who read my blog during its first year. I hope you like the fantasy/historical stuff and look forward to writing more in 2012.
Thaddeus
Sheeeesh, Mr. Dancer, I am amazed you have eyes for anything but Skyrim just now. That game was only released seven weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteCourtesy of my son, I only got my hands on it on Boxing Day and have racked up about 80 hours so far but I don't feel I have scratched the surface (e.g. there is at least one civil war going on that I now nothing about and I bumped into some representatives of a group called the Thalmor yesterday).
I thought Oblivion was big but Skyrim blows the limits in my gaming experience.
Tinkerty-tonk
P.S. Due to a serious and prolonged attack of dungeon crawling, I have lost track of the other place - is there any news of Miss. Plato? Her sudden disappearance after the early hours of 22/12/11 worries me but I have no direct way of trying to make contact.
Mr. Llama: sadly not. I also have no means of contacting her, but I believe e-mails have been sent to try and see if she's ok. I hope she is.
ReplyDeleteHa, well, I've played quite a lot of Skyrim. I've got 10 characters (about four of whom are level 19+) and have played using various styles (I think stealth is my favourite). It has a more epic feel to it than Oblivion, and the more central Nordic theme, rather than the predecessor's cosmopolitan mish-mash, helps add to the game's environment.
The music is also very, very good, and I think the voice-acting has been improved significantly (not having 8 overworked actors helps).
I'll still play it fairly often for weeks, I imagine, and go back to it now and then for years. I just hope Dragon Age 3's team actually gets time to make the game properly, instead of rushing it and copy-pasting dungeons.