Most anticipated videogames of 2012 revealed
Which titles whet your appetite?
With current-gen consoles nearing the end of their lifespans, 2012 has hardly been a golden year for game releases. But that hasn't stopped punters from getting excited at what is to come.
US market watcher Nielson has compiled a list of the year's most anticipated games for each console and the results are not what you might expect.
The figures were built from research that combines eight metrics, including awareness and purchase interest. This is then compared to scores from all previous games on the platform to give it a percentage.
It seems Xbox gamers were most excited about Halo 4, which topped the charts with a 98 per cent score. Assassin's Creed III and Max Payne 3 follow closely behind with 94 and 91 per cent respectively.
What's shocking perhaps is that the anticipated Bioshock: Infinite and Lara Croft's return in Tomb Raider both prop up a list that includes Kinect Star Wars and Fable: The Journey. Madness, I tell you.
The same can be said for the PlayStation 3 range, where Assassin's Creed III and the bullet-time antics of Max Payne 3 take central podium with 98 and 96 per cent scores respectively. This month's Prototype 2 jumps in at number seven, while Medal of Honour: Warfighter shoots in at number five despite not featuring on the Xbox list at all.
For Wii, the titles are scarce, with American football title Madden NFL 13 the standout winner at 96 per cent. With the Wii U console out by the end of the year, though, it's hardly a surprise the list feels depleted.
Of course, the analysts failed to mention the PC platform and with titles such as Diablo 3 on the way next month, we all know where the attention lies.
The full list of titles can be seen below. While this was all based on an American audience, would us Brits really have better taste? Let us know your most anticipated games for 2012 in the comments below, or why not start a debate on the Reg forums? ®
Microsoft Xbox 360
- Halo 4 - TBD - 98%
- Assassin’s Creed III - October - 91%
- Max Payne 3 - May - 91%
- Madden NFL 13 - August - 90%
- Resident Evil 6 - November - 89%
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - May - 85%
- Fable: The Journey - TBD - 85%
- Kinect: Star Wars - April - 85%
- NCAA Football 13 - July - 82%
- Bioshock: Infinite - October - 77%
- Tomb Raider - TBD - 77%
Sony PlayStation 3
- Assassin’s Creed III - October - 98%
- Max Payne 3 - May - 96%
- Madden NFL 13 - August - 96%
- Resident Evil 6 - November - 94%
- Medal of Honour: Warfighter - October - 87%
- NCAA Football 13 - July - 85%
- Prototype 2 - April - 85%
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - May - 80%
- Bioshock: Infinite - October - 79%
- Tomb Raider - TBD - 79%
- NBA Live 13 - October - 79%
Nintendo Wii
- Madden NFL 13 - August - 96%
- Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two - TBD - 94%
- Battleship - May - 86%
- LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes - June - 82%
- The Amazing Spider-Man - July - 82%
- Men in Black - May - 81%
- The Last Story - June - 64%
- Xenoblade Chronicles - April 50%
COMMENTS
"would us Brits really have better taste?"
We'd have a PC games list for a start.
If PC gaming is dead....
....then I must be the grim reaper. Plenty of fun to be had in PC gaming, it's just not marketed as hard as console games. The best racing, flight and FPS games are all to be found on PC's, most of them PC exclusives because consoles can't handle them.
I hate Consoles
It's a personal thing. I hate the thumb controllers.
It's almost as if the designers thought "Lets design a controller that uses the LEAST co-ordinated digit for all the fine control".
If you are in any doubt about this then try playing an FPS online against someone on a PC who is using a mouse and keyboard. You'll get yer butt kicked.
Even console games ported to PC can be bad. Batman Arkham City is one of those.
The GTA series however has always been excellently ported from Playstation to PC.
As for my most anticipated games for PC, I guess GTA5, Fallout 4, and HalfLife3 (or at least Episode 3) would be mine. That and any other game that has an extensive world to explore and some interesting challenges to solve that don't require me to have 4 prehensile thumbs in a particular position whilst standing on my schlong in a bath of green custard,.... just to get past that particular section. Having to "master" a particular key combination is BORING!! Been there done that,....... games designers, please find something new.
Depressed ...
<RANT>
This thread is so depressing. I dislike consoles with a passion, dumbed down gaming and locked in technology for kids. Being 48 years old I've seen gaming evolve from the first Space Invaders machine that I used in a motorway service station in the mid 70s to Pong at home through microcomputers (I wrote for the Spectrum) and into the glory days of full on PC gaming when every year had a new GPU and the bar was constantly being raised. Consoles are the antithesis of all that has been achieved and limit the imagination of developers and the evolution of gaming. Even more so the trend for phone gaming. It MP3 versus SACD/DVD-A all over again: quantity and convenience not quality (not universally true but near enough). Or to put it another way we're into the era of Hollywood CGI laden blockbusters for 12 year old boys (eg Transformers) and the era of 2001-A Space Odyssey and Apocalypse Now are but a distant memory. Or another way: Goodbye Beatles and Pink Floyd, hello X-Factor.
</RANT>
