• First and Foremost, an engaging Bioware story: Mass Effect 2 had no story, this is supposed to be a trilogy and the second one felt like there was no development into a story. We really didn't learn anything new about the Reapers.
• Recruit your old squad members back: Bioware has said that our decisions actually matter, well perhaps in Mass Effect 3, we can have our old squad mates back and it would make ME2 not look so useless (I refer to the... ahem, ending of Mass Effect 2) .
• inventory system like ME
• Customize the Normandy and crew, like Skies of Arcadia where you have to go around the galaxy and find your cooks, gunners, engineers, etc...
• Planet Exploration: thats what gave Mass Effect the feel that you are actually in the world that was created by traveling to new planets.
• Learn about the Reapers: what are they and who made them?
• Deeper Paragon/Renegade options: in ME3, if we take on the Reapers we need people to understand the gravity of the situation, like threatening and persuading them. I can see the Council arguing for restraint and a cool Renegade option would be to shoot the Turian Ambassador (he always made me mad!), in order to get them to help you. Serious decisions like that.
• Less Linear planets/missions
• backstory of Shephard, like getting to meet the family and friends of Shephard and his/her story.
• .....and....Wrex and Garrus as Squad members :D

Lets see:

Mass Effect 3

Dragon Age 2

Uncharted 3

Star War TOR

Batman Arkham City

RPGs usually have a good story behind them, and I think ME2 had a complete lack of story behind it in comparisons to the first Mass Effect. Going from the intro of ME2 to the end, nothing really changed and you didn't learn anything new about the Reapers, and if there are completely new characters in Mass Effect 3, then what was the point of Mass Effect 2?

Thats my two cents, but on RPG elements...they were there, but when comparing those elements to say the first ME, well the first clearly has more RPG elements.

i.e:

Mass Effect: Action RPG

Mass Effect 2: Role Playing Shooter (RPS)

The development team at one point said (I can't find the news story) Mass Effect 2 was a heavily influenced by Gears of War, so there's your proof!

Not sure about everything being released in 2011, but I am anticipating:

1. Final Fantasy Versus XIII

2. Batman

3. Dragon Age II

4. SW:TOR

5. Metal Gear Solid: Rising

...come to think of it, there is no game beyond 2011 I am looking forward to (2013+)...

I was just in Korea for a month and they were advertising the heck out of Starcraft 2, so I bet they will eventually.

The only criticism I had of Mass Effect 2 was the story. Don't get me wrong, this game was done well with the gameplay, graphics, sound, etc... everything was perfect except the story. I didn't like the idea of the whole game being about finding squadmates then gaining loyalty then real story elements only beginning in the last 1 to 2 hours of the game.

So with that I want to see in Mass Effect 3 a very rich story about the discovering things about the reapers, not what they have done but their background, or more information about Shepard's past. I don't want to see new characters, maybe one or two, but after ME 1 and 2, there should be a pool of 14 - 17 existing characters depending on your choices and they are excellent characters, but use those existing ones, no ME2 repeat. I also want to see more interesting sidequests that reveal information about the galaxy more and the species, maybe more background on the existing squad mates.

Finally, the only thing I really want to see is again related to story, but directed at your choices. If you have gone the renegade route for example and let the council live in the ME1, I would like for you to be able to act total renegade and kill Executor Pailin for hating humans or assasinate the Turian Councillor for holding things up on reaper defense. Another idea is bringing back Spectre and Council issues, where you have to choose between being a Spectre or working for Cerberus, if you choose one then the other views you as an enemy. Things like that where you really get to have choices that really make you feel you are renegede or paragon, which I felt hasn't been as amazing has it could have been.

...and get rid of planet scanning!

Ya those older games have had more reply time for me then newer ones:Super Maro RPG (6 times), Super Mario Bros. 3 (30ish times), Donkey Kong Country 3 (4 times), Mass Effect (6 times), Halo: CE (7 times).

I found that recently in Dragon Age, I just got so tired of the hard difficulty and having to restart all the time as it was too hard and it was wasting my time as I had other things to do.

To answer your question, I would consider it casual I suppose in some sense. Gears of War or Halo are games that can be hardcore, but also have a casual element for many new gamers or to get a quick fix. But as I reply to this I find it coming back to what you consider hardcore quite a bit. Ask it in different question, in Dragon Age, Gears, Kingdom Hearts, or Halo, does fighting more difficult enemies make you a more hardcore gamer?

One of the reasons why some gamers have only played Resident Evil 4 and can not get into any of the previous games is because of how it was able to appeal to a much more broader audience. It was more of a survival/action game than a survival/horror game. Some people who don't consider these people as "true" fans of the series have to be aware that at the time, Resident Evil was in dire need to revamp it controls. The tankish controls(even though still alive in Resident Evil 4 is was a lot smoother and easier to manuever), the aswkward camera angles which has now been fixed to an over the shoulder control which adds the tension and the cinematic flair, and restriction of saving was also a concept that really(to me) held no ground what so ever to exist. While I understand the idea that saving adds the tension... there are some gamers who alot or perhaps they have to go really quick and they have to save.

Resident Evil 4 really saved the series, whether for the better or worse is entirely up to the masses. As for me, I still like playing the older Resident Evil games from time to time like RE 2 and RE 0 but still... a "true" fan in my eyes can not deny that Resident Evil 4 was a much needed title in the series and I welcome it with full arms.

whisperingmute

I agree, I had REmake first and I didn't like it and got rid of it, two years later I got it again and then loved it then I tried RE4 and I loved that too. I have tried RE2 and 3, I just didnt like those ones very much...mostly cause the controls and graphics. I am looking forward to REmake2 if they make it which the other day Takeuchi mused about doing just that. RE5 I think when I first saw it, was going to take RE0-CV stories and use RE4 gameplay which I will really like and if there is any indication it seems that is going to happen. Since characters such as Chris, Jill, Wesker, Spencer, Ada, Sherry apart of the story.

I would really like it if the setting and story were changed. I am tired of going after Zelda and then beating Ganondorf. I think that you could have Ganondorf and Zelda apart of the story, but they would be supporting characters at least. The reason I got into Zelda was because of Majora's Mask, Oot was good but then after I played other games I was disappointed by some of the repetition.

I also agree that having harder settings or something that would be useful for replay value. For me personally, after gameplay and story come replay value. I think Nintendo needs to look to other adventure/RPG games for insight of what people expect these days with respect to gameplay. I am not going to name any games specifically cause some people would be divided on what other games to look to.