With the bumps, hills, and even successes of 2016 coming to an end, we look to next year to see what the gaming community has to offer. From what we can see, 2017 entails two new systems and a plethora of new games. Three of the most anticipated games are coming out in the first quarter, an Xbox exclusive still has no release date at the time of writing this article, which hopefully will soon, and lastly the two consoles will be released in the final quarter (Xbox Scorpio and the Nintendo Switch).

In 2017, we see that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and Mass Effect: Andromeda are to be released during the first quarter. These three games have been in the public eye for a quite some time. The public has known about The Legend of Zelda since a few months after the release of the Nintendo Wii U. Just recently, at E3, we found out the title of the new Zelda game and what the mechanics to the game would be. The excitement for these games has grown at an expedited rate, to the point of which people are getting too excited. The danger of building this much excitement is that if these games fail to impress then it can create mass disappointment, but from what we have seen at conventions and tested during the conventions I believe these games are set to deliver what fans are expecting.

The Xbox exclusive that I an personally excited for is Scalebound, we still have no information on when this game will be released or what quarter, but what we do know is that the game is firstly beautiful – let’s just get this out of the way. The visuals and designs to this game appear amazing. We also know that this game will have multiplayer gameplay and that each player will have their own dragon, which will be customizable, so no two dragon and dragon rider will be the same. Some will fly, some will crawl, and I for one am very excited for this specific feature. The chance of this game being released during the first quarter of the year is very low, but in honesty, the way Microsoft keeps bringing this game to the forefront says they are getting ready to release and will either announce the release date before the start of the first quarter, my prediction is that the game will be released at the end of the first quarter beginning of the second.

We also have two new consoles entering the arena, both of which are expected to arrive at the end of next year. Project Scorpio will be released in the holiday season and will cooperate with those that will remain with the current Xbox One. Microsoft will likely unveil the real name of the console before the E3 event. The second system that will be coming out is the Nintendo Switch. This console will most likely be released for the Holiday season too.

With the anticipation of Christmas comes the anticipation of the releases of the New Year. We all look forward to the arrivals of the current and future games of which will be added to our gaming libraries. As we enter the New Year we shall see the games that we have gotten so excited for become a reality. So, fellow gamers wait patiently, and don’t let your little fires of excitement burn out, only a few more days until the beginning of the First Quarter.