2011 in video games
The year 2011 saw many new video games, as well the release of numerous sequels to critically acclaimed games, such as Ace Combat, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Call of Juarez, Cities XL, Crysis, Dead Space, Deus Ex, Dragon Age, Driver, Duke Nukem, Dynasty Warriors, F.E.A.R, Forza Motorsport, Gears of War, Infamous, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, Mario Kart, Modern Combat, Mortal Kombat, MX vs. ATV, Need for Speed, Operation Flashpoint, Pokémon, Portal, Rayman, Red Faction, Red Orchestra, Resistance, Saints Row, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, The Elder Scrolls, The Legend of Zelda, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Total War, Tropico and Uncharted. In addition, it saw the release of many new intellectual properties, such as Bastion, Dark Souls, Dead Island, Homefront, L.A. Noire, Minecraft and Rage. Many awards went to games such as Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. 2011 also marked the worldwide release of the Nintendo 3DS.
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Events
| Month | Day(s) | Event |
|---|---|---|
| January | 6 - 9 | International Consumer Electronics Show 2011 held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA[1] |
| February | 26 | The Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo's newest handheld console, releases in Japan.[2] |
| February 28 – March 4 | Game Developers Conference 2011 held in San Francisco, California.[3] | |
| March | 11 | As a result of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, certain video game releases were cancelled or postponed. Additionally, several servers used for Internet gaming were shut down temporarily. |
| 11 - 13 | PAX East 2011 held in Boston, Massachusetts.[4] | |
| 25 - 31 | The Nintendo 3DS released in America, Europe and Australia. | |
| June | 7 - 9 | E3 2011 was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.[5] |
| 23 | The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, one of the best-selling video game franchises of all-time, celebrated its 20th anniversary. | |
| 27 | The Supreme Court of the United States issues their ruling on Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, declaring video games as protected free speech. | |
| August | 4 - 7 | QuakeCon 2011: The massive annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas. |
| 15 - 17 | Game Developers Conference 2011 Europe held in Cologne, Germany. | |
| 18 - 22 | Gamescom 2011 held at Cologne, Germany | |
| 26 - 28 | PAX Prime 2011 held in Seattle, Washington.[6] | |
| September | 15–18 | Tokyo Game Show 2011 |
| 22–25 | Eurogamer Expo 2011 held in Earls Court in London, England. | |
| October | 15–16 | EB Games Expo 2011 held in Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Australia. |
| 21–22 | BlizzCon 2011 held in Anaheim Convention Center in California. | |
| November | 18–19 | Minecon held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Minecraft gets its full release on the 18th. |
| December | 3 | 10th anniversary of the Jak and Daxter series.[7] |
| 10 | Spike Video Game Awards. | |
| 17 | PlayStation Vita was released in Japan. | |
| 31 | Artech Studios disbanded. |
Hardware releases
The list of game-related hardware released in 2011 in North America.
| Month | Day | Console |
|---|---|---|
| March | 27 | Nintendo 3DS |
Game releases
The list of games released in 2011 in North America.
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January–March
April–June
July–September
October–December
Critically acclaimed titles
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
References
- "2011 International CES, January 6–9". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- Harris, Craig (September 28, 2010). "Nintendo Conference 2010 Details". IGN.
- "Save the date: GDC 2011, February 28 - March 4". GameSpot. March 9, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
- "PAX East 2011, March 11 - March 13". Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- "Attendance and Stats". IGN. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
- "PAX Prime 2011, August 26–28". Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
- Good, Owen (December 3, 2011). "Happy 10th Anniversary, Jak and Daxter". Kotaku.
- "IGN: Pokemon White Version". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
- "IGN: Pokemon Black Version". Archived from the original on April 11, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
- "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD Release Information for PlayStation 3 - GameFAQs:". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- "Metal Gear Solid HD Collection - PlayStation 3 - www.GameInformer.com". www.gameinformer.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
- "Best Video Games for 2011". Metacritic. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
- "Highest-Ranking Games of 2011 (with at least 5 reviews)". GameRankings. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
- "FIFA Soccer 12 for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
- "Best Video Games for 2012". Metacritic. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- "Highest-Ranking Games of 2012 (with at least 5 reviews)". GameRankings. Retrieved September 27, 2019.