Video gamers have seen bullets fly all year long in 2011 between  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision) and Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts).  Both MW3 and BF3 promise an exciting first person shooter with graphics and sound worthy of a summer blockbuster movie.  The FPS shooter battle will continue on throughout the year as DLC and multiplayer elements will help boost numbers or leave gamers asking for more.

Gamers looking for fantasy and a single-player experience will most likely be drawn to the large scale releases of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda) and Dark Souls (Namco Bandai).  Both games look exceptionally gorgeous and highlight battles with dragons, use of swords, dungeons and magic.  So far Skyrim has a leg up on the competition with it’s long history in the Elder Scrolls universe while Dark Souls has only one successor in the praised yet difficult Demon’s Souls.

The Penny Arcade Expo (Seattle) and The Tokyo Game Show (Japan) are the next places eager fans will see more on these games in action in a public setting (with the exception of Call of Duty XP which will showcase MW3).  So far Dark Souls is the game we have seen the least of up close but their new Prologue Trailer has us itching for more.