Most titles are sequels and multi-platform releases

Apr 11, 2012 07:58 GMT  ·  By

Nielsen, the well-known market and media research group, has released a report showing that the most anticipated video game releases of the current year include Halo 4, Assassin’s Creed III and Madden NFL 13.

The company has surveyed the player community for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Nintendo Wii and has combined eight metrics, from awareness to intention to purchase, in order to create an overall score for each title.

The comparison also took into account purchasing intent from previous years to see how enthusiasm for games that are coming during 2012 compares.

The Xbox 360 was dominated by the upcoming Halo 4, developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft, which scored 98 percent.

The rest of the top five included: Assassin’s Creed III, Max Payne 3, Madden NFL 13 and Resident Evil 6.

The Sony PlayStation 3 saw Assassin’s Creed III, from publisher Ubisoft, as the leading video game release of 2012, with a score of 98 percent, followed by: Max Payne 3, Madden NFL 13, Resident Evil 6 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

On the Nintendo Wii, the leading game for the year was Madden NFL 13, the American football simulation from Electronic Arts, with the other top five titles including: Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Battleship, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and The Amazing Spider-Man.

The major surprise is the fact that only the Xbox 360 is dominated by an exclusive release and that no platform specific title appears on the most-awaited list for the PlayStation 3.

Even on the famous Nintendo-driven Wii Madden NFL 13 has managed to be more interesting to players than the next Epic Mickey game.

Other much-awaited titles include NCAA Football 13, Tomb Raider and BioShock: Infinite.