Around the web on many blogs that I read, authors have been participating in a “following year predictions” pattern. Most people are predicting things that will happen with MMOs, or consoles, or single-player games. I’m sure there’s other authors out there that are predicting sports figures, stuff about movies, or whatever else. I don’t have a lot of predictions, and I mainly focused on PS3 content, but I have a few varying topics, although they’re all things that I’m mainly interested in finding out. So here goes, my predictions for 2011:

• Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will outsell all previous incarnations of Street Fighter games at release. I believe it will most likely will outsell any other fighting game throughout the year. Tekken fans will probably argue this point, but I’ve always felt Street Figther > Tekken. Or Mortal Kombat for that matter.
• Uncharted 2 will release one more DLC (map pack) and increase the multi-player level cap to 100 before the release of Uncharted 3.
• Uncharted 3 will surpass sales of it predecessor. I think that’s pretty obvious, because the series has grown in popularity over the past year.
• A new version of COD will release in Q4. This version will most likely be Modern Warfare 3, released by Infiniti Ward. Treyarch will release at least 2 DLC packs throughout the year, but wait for 2012 to release their newest incarnation.
• The EA/DICE team that released the Medal of Honor reboot will release DLC between now and Q4 when they will release their next version of the game, to compete with the next version of COD. It’s a trend that has been happening for years now, pretty easy stuff.
• The new Twisted Metal will not release until Q4, but will be a huge success. You can be sure there will be a resurgence of car combat copies to bank on that success.
• Dragon Age 2 will surpass sales figures of its predecessor.
• Mass Effect 3 will out sell the rest of the series, and be released on all platforms simultaneously (the latter part has already been said).
• The Playstation Move and Xbox Kinect technology will give way to something completely different, and motion gaming will die off and be recognized as a fad. At least, I’m hoping because I’m over it. 
• Wii sales will decline and Nintendo will reveal plans for their new system, which will actually include HD capabilities and won’t be based off of motion technology.
• The Xbox/PS3 war will continue, but the 360 will begin to lose exclusives, with companies realizing they would make more profits from cross-platform titles. Losing Mass Effect’s exclusivity is a clear indicator of this.
• Final Fantasy XIV will not be ported to the PS3. The game isn’t as successful as it’s predecessor, and though they say they’re working on a console version I’ll believe it when I see it.
• Rift will release, and will have mild success. All current MMOs aside from WoW and Eve that aren’t already free to play will be before the end of 2011. Until there is a realization that a new MMO has to be revolutionary and ground-breaking, the market will be controlled by Blizzard.
• Starcraft II’s 2nd campaign will be released by Q3, but the 3rd and final chapter will be reserved for 2012. Diablo 3 will not release until Q4. Guessing anything Blizzard will do is like predicting when the world will end. They’re a studio known for quality and polish, but also for delaying games long after the announced release date.

That’s all I could think of for now, but it will be interesting to see at this time next year how much of this I got right. Some of my guesses were sure bets, but a couple of these were out there. With any luck I’ll have nailed most of them. This is probably the last post I’ll be writing until after the new year, so Happy New Year, and I’ll see you then.