The Biggest Video Game News of 2011

Posted on Friday, December 30 @ 14:28:25 Eastern by Daniel Bischoff

When all is said and done, we might remember 2011 for the news stories more than the games. Who could forget when that one thing happened? Man, what a crazy time that was. Need to be more specific when you're chatting with friends this New Year's Eve? Here are the top 5 news stories in the video game industry for 2011.

5. Skyrim

Anything and everything Skyrim hit it big this year, considerably more so in the Fall and Winter seasons. Whether we were previewing the game ahead of E3 thanks to Bethesda's BFG event or giving you all the media you needed to see leading up to the game's release, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim narrowly pushes the 3DS Price Drop out of the top 5 just by sheer volume.
Number of Articles in 2011's top 100 News Posts: 7
Highest Ranking: Skyrim Will Have Decapitations, Personal Sex Slaves, and Drinking Contests

4. Grand Theft Auto V: Debut Trailer

There aren't a lot of games that would forgo the big E3 reveal and announce themselves amid the Fall release rush of Video Games. Of course, there aren't a lot of games as big as Grand Theft Auto. The debut trailer only lasted a sweet one minute and 24 seconds, but it was enough to derail the marketing plans of some of 2011's biggest games.
Other stories posted on November 2nd, 2011 that no one remembers:
Techland "Dead Island" Devs Trademark "Dead World"
Saints Row: The Third PC Requirements Detailed
Sony Posts $350 Million Net Loss in Q2 2011

3. Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011

This was easily GameRevolution's biggest E3 yet, with more staff on hand and tons of live coverage. We liveblogged the press conferences, delivered tons of new game reveals, impressions, previews, hands-on, and we even wrote a poem for you. We even took a reader with us!
Number of E3 posts in our tag page for the year: 121
This is who won E3: GameRevolution's Best of E3 2011 Awards

2. Battlefield 3 Vs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

I've got to be honest: rampant fanboyism, platform loyalty, and all the vitriol the internet can muster are not pleasant things to deal with. Regardless, the faceoff between Battlefield and Call of Duty this year definitely takes number 2 on our list of the top news, but not by our choice.
When mudslinging makes the news:
GameStop: Trade in Battlefield 3 for Modern Warfare 3
EA CEO Believes Call of Duty Will "Rot from the Core", Activision Responds
Visit ModernWarfare3.com To Check Out... Battlefield 3?

1. Sony's PlayStation 3 Hacked, PSN Down

You had to see this one coming. The combined hacking of the PS3 hardware and the PlayStation Network made massive waves earlier this year. It resulted in loss of brand-trust and millions of people had their credit card and personal information stolen off of what should have been secure networks. Servers were down and gamers were stuck counting the days. The incident also made Geohot somewhat internet famous, but man, that guy was a douche.
The PSN Outage in 5 Words: Hackers Got Us Free Games
The PSN Was Down for How Long Again?: 31 Days
Number of Tan Gamers After PSN Outage: Still Zero.

What will be the biggest stories in 2012?

Tags: the news

Comments

LinksOcarina
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Nothing on SOPA? What?

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Bretimus_v2
Joined: Jan 2009

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Seriously? I wouldn't quantify SOPA as "video game news". It's much grander than that as it deals with media at large (TV, Music,Movies...and games). I also feel that the first three are making a lot more noise about SOPA then the games industry.

With that in mind, I wouldn't put in a top 5 news items.

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J03
Joined: Aug 2011

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Let it be 2012's problem.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Nominated for The People Speak.

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dirty_f
Joined: Nov 2010

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
ya know when that whole PSN hackage/downage occurred i'd just bought Fallout: New Vegas, hence stopped playing Black Ops for a good while. finished New Vegas n went back to Black ops for a bit n all was fine. i had no idea it had even happened till some random person told me.

my house mate was playing online (which he hardly ever does) on his acc n decided to use his card to buy the first map pack for black ops during the hackage. i remained oblivious to this a well.

i just find it funny how i could just completely miss such an event.

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TheJx4
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
The only positive thing that this caused was lack of sales for SOCOM4.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
I had forgoten the PSN hack, because of Skyrim, that was big wasn't it.

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CavesLemon
Joined: Dec 2011

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Thanks God for Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat or PSN going down would have been an issue for me.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
You might have had to burn somebody's house down.

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CavesLemon
Joined: Dec 2011

Posted: Dec 31st, 2011 at 8:44 am
Well, to be honest, Portal 2 was the one that taught me that.

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Longo_2_guns
Joined: Jun 2003

Posted: Dec 30th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
It's weird how little I was really affected or moved by these bits of news. Skyrim was, well, Skyrim. GTA5 was an "about time" moment, although I suppose stuff like TBoGT warrants such a wait between it and 4. E3 didn't even have a good Konami conference, which is saying a lot. I don't play really any online games, and MW3 vs Battlefield 3 really just felt like the two trying to stir up as much publicity as possible. And the PSN outage was sort of similar. No damage actually done except for the outage, but it was treated as an atomic bomb by the press.

I suppose that's what makes me so great. I'm still so pure.

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Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: Dec 31st, 2011 at 3:51 am
I don't see how a game announcement with no release date for a sequel that was 100% guaranteed to be made is news at all, let alone top 5. There's been a GAMEPLAY video of Diablo III available for years and it's still not coming out until 2012. We all know these games are being made, we only care when they are coming out. Well I do anyway.

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MikeyVengeance
Joined: Nov 2007

Posted: Jan 4th, 2012 at 12:30 am
Love how MW3 got George Michael to pose on the cover

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