The Most Anticipated New PC Games for the 2011 Holidays

Every year, some of the best video games come out toward the end of the year in order to catch that holiday sales drive. For 2011, some highly anticipated sequels are hitting the market and they are sure to be big hits.

Role Playing Games

Does the gamer on your list like to play RPGs? These are the kind of games where players build up characters and use a variety of strategy and tactics to win. For 2011, two of the most anticipated role playing game sequels are coming out before the end of the year.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Bioware and Lucasarts have teamed up again for another great Star Wars game, and this one takes place a few hundred years after the last Knights of the Old Republic game. This title is an MMORPG, so it will have a monthly fee associated with playing. Keep that in mind before gifting it to someone that might not be able to afford the fees, which tend to be $10-20 per month. This game is expected to be huge, and is set to release on December 20th.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Without a doubt, this fifth part of the huge selling series is going to be one of the biggest hits of the year. Every game in this series has been a major success. For the money, this is one of the best gaming gifts because the game can be played for days thanks to the huge open world and all the things you can do with it. If the RPG player on your list really wants something to keep them busy for a long time, then this is the game to get. It's not an MMO and there are no monthly fees to play this one. It comes out on November 11th.

Batman: Arkham City - While this is more of an action game than an RPG, it still has some RPG elements. If this is even half as good as the first Batman game, it will be a huge hit with gamers. The console version of this game is out right now, and the PC version comes out on November 18^th.

First Person Shooters

FPS games are 3D shooters where you play a soldier of some kind who runs around shooting enemies, and some games even let you operate vehicles and interact with the environment. This is one of the most popular game genres and has been for many years. The game companies have capitalized greatly on this by creating multiple series of games which regularly spawn sequels, and gamers line up outside stores to get the latest release.

Battlefield 3 - The Battlefield series of game has been around for more than a decade and every one of the games has been excellent. I've personally played them all and consider this my favorite of all FPS games because it gives you access to tons of weapons and you can drive vehicles. I also love the huge open maps in the game, and the online multiplayer experience stands far above every other shooter I've played. The gamer in your family will want this game - no doubt about it. The release date is October 25th.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Although I have personally grown a little tired with this series due to its lack of real innovation over the last few titles, it is still one of the hottest selling game series on the market. CoD:MW3 will surely fly off the shelves just like the last couple of release in the series. Keep a look out for special collector's editions with extras that fans of the series might enjoy.

Note: Both of these games are rated M for Mature and feature excessive gore and profanity, so be careful if buying for a younger gamer.