2012 Video Gamers Guide

2012 A month-by-month look at the big re- leases and video game events that will shape the next twelve months for gamers around the globe. A VIDEO GAMER'S GUIDE POWERED BY JANUARY: A NEW, INCREDIBLY SLOW BEGINNING JANUARY RELEASES Final Fantasy XIII-2 Neverdead SoulCalibur V International Ah, January, the perfect month to catch up on that back catalog of 2011 games you hadn't got around to playing yet. CES JANUARY 10-13 FEBRUARY: LOVE IS IN THE AIR, OR AT LEAST A NEW SONY HANDHELD SONY FEBRUARY RELEASES Will North America fall in love with a brand new portable Sony gaming system this month? Asura's Wrath Binary Domain The Darkness 2 PSVITA Inversion Jak and Daxter Collection WELCOME, PS VITA FEBRUARY 22 dice TOY FAIR 2012 Resident Evil Revelations Launch Games Include: Army Corps of Hell Escape Plan Gravity Rush Hot Shots Golf Little Deviants Touch My Katamari Uncharted: Golden Abyss WipeOut 2048 Rhythm Heaven SSX DESIGN INNOVATE COMMUNICATE ENTERTAIN Syndicate SUMMIT Twisted Metal FEBRUARY 12-15 FEBRUARY 10-12 UFC Undisputed 3 MARCH: WHEN THE GAMES COME MARCHING IN TO BE DETERMINED Dishonored Dragon's Dogma Kid Icarus: Uprising Mario Party 9 Mass Effect 3 Max Payne 3 Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater MLB 2K12 You'll be too busy gaming to care about this text come March 2012. GAMES AND EVENTS WE KNOW ARE COMING IN 2012 BUT DON'T KNOW WHEN Pretty Sure Things: Aliens: Colonial Marines Animal Crossing 3D New Assassin's Creed BioShock Infinite Borderlands 2 Call of Duty Something Counter-Strike GỖ Diablo II Fable: The Joumey Fortnite Guild Wars 2 Halo 4 Joumey The Last of Us Lollipop Chainsaw LEGO Batman 2 Luigi's Mansion 2 Mario Tennis 3DS Ni No Kuni Metal Gear Rising: Revengence Sly Cooper. Thieves in Time StarHawk Star Wars Kinect Tomb Raider Transformers: Fall of Cybertron X-COM X-COM: Enemy Unknown MLB The Show 12 Ninja Gaiden 3 Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Silent Hill: Downpour Street Fighter X Tekken Tiger Woods Yakuza: Dead Souls 12 MARCH 5-9 APRIL: IT'S PROBABLY RAINING; STAY INSIDE AND GAME APRIL RELEASES RK KEWS APRIL 6-8 Things slow down a bit in April to prepare us for the worst month of the year. A Game of Thrones Prototype 2 Spec Ops: The Line Xenoblade Chronicle, BIZZ OW IT ENDS? Other 2012 Possibilities: MAY: NO ONE CARES ABOUT MAY Grand Theft Auto V The Last Guardian StarCraft II: Heart of the Swam World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Seriously, May sucks. Or it may just be where our sure-thing release dates for 2012 run out. Nah, it's just May. What a horrible, horribile 31 days. JUNE: SUMMER CONVENTION SEASON BEGINS Summertime and the living is easy, unless you're a video game journalist. Then it's time to pack your bags and prepare to live out of hotels for four months GREAT EXPECTATIONS With current-gen consoles hitting the six or seven-year-old mark this year, E3 2012 could mark the debut of next generation systems from Microsoft and Sony, along with a clearer picture of what to expect from Nintendo's Wii U. AX ERTAINME ANIME EXPO 2012 straight. Hooray! JUNE 29- JULY 2 JUNE 5-7 JULY: NATIONAL AIR CONDITIONING APPRECIATION MONTH JULY RELEASES Summer is in full swing as the largest gathering of geeks in the country kicks off, a new Spider-Man movie (and game) launches, and who could possibly forget BronyCon 2012? Not you. Not now. SAN DIEGO SCON SPIDER-MAN INTERNATIONAL The Amazing Spider-Man NCAA Football 2013 JUNE 30- JULY 1 JULY 12-15 AUGUST: WHERE MADDEN LIVES Another year, another installment of the longest-running NFL football console video game franchise in his- tory, mainly because EA won't let anyone else make one. JOHN MADDEN FOOTBALL PaX gamescom AUGUST 15-19 QUAKECON AUGUST 26-28 SEPTEMBER: A SLOW SPIRAL INTO MADNESS The fall games slowly begin to trickle out as the eyes of the gaming world turn to Japan. DRAGONKCON TOKYOGAMESHOW SEPTEMBER 20-23 AUGUST 31- SEPTEMBER 3 WijU OCTOBER: THE BEGINNING OF THE END FAN FAIRE The floodgates open by October, with big budget blockbusters hitting stores on a weekly basis. Plus, Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, so expect the obligatory horror release here. Some time between the beginning of summer and the end of 2012, Nintendo will unleash its NEW VORK next-generation console, the Wii U. Featuring a COMICCON OCTOBER 18-21 unique (and likely highly expensive) controller OCTOBER 11-14 with a built-in high-definition LCD and power far NOVEMBER: WHERE WALLETS GO TO DIE beyond that of its predecessor, the Wii U could be a complete game changer. If you aren't broke by now than you truly understand the reasoning behind Gut Checks. Unfortunately this is Call of Duty month, when publishers unleash the final attack in their yearly war on your wallet. For those about to die, we salute you. DECEMBER: WALKING IN A WINTER WASTELAND The Game of the Year Awards begin, releases slow to a crawl, and the gaming industry tucks itself in for its long winter's nap. EXPO MARCH RELEASES