Here's what you're looking forward to: Nielsen ranks anticipation for the games of 2012

Nielsen Media Research – that's the guys that tell you what you watched on TV, not the guy from the Naked Gun movies – has put together some charts of “Gamer Anticipation” for upcoming releases on all three major consoles. The company says it gauged anticipation by collating data for “eight key consumer metrics, including Awareness and Purchase Interest,” into one score, then did us all the favor of ranking 2012's future games into three compact, discussion-ready lists.

As Nielsen points out, the lists are topped by “traditional mainstays” and “new iterations from potent brands.” Which is a nice way of saying that if you call a game Halo, it'll be an easier sell than if you called it, oh, say, Okami (hi, welcome to Gamesradar). Indeed, throughout all three lists, there's one wholly original IP, Mistwalker's The Last Story – hanging out all lonesome near the end of the Wii list and holding up a sign reading “From the guy what done Final Fantasy.”

Above: If you can play Assassin's Creed III soon, you're probably quite eager to do so, says Nielsen

The company also points out that anticipation levels for the same titles vary across consoles, with titles like Epic Mickey 2 and Lego Batman 2 ranking much higher with Wii players than they do for other platforms. Before you jump to the obvious conclusion, though, note that the new Madden's also considerably more anticipated by Wii players than 360 owners. Which means that console demographics are still a little more complex than one might think – or that the frat-houses are taking younger and younger pledges each year, we suppose.

Upcoming 2012 Console Titles With the Highest Gamer Anticipation

Swipe to scroll horizontally

2012 Title for 360

Release Date

Game Rank

Halo 4

TBD

98%

Assassin’s Creed III

10/30/2012

94%

Max Payne 3

5/15/2012

91%

Madden NFL 13

8/28/2012

90%

Resident Evil 6

11/20/2012

89%

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

5/22/2012

85%

Fable: The Journey

TBD

85%

Kinect: Star Wars

4/3/2012

85%

NCAA Football 13

7/10/2012

82%

Bioshock: Infinite

10/16/2012

77%

Tomb Raider

TBD

77%

Swipe to scroll horizontally

2012 Title for PS3

Release Date

Game Rank

Assassin’s Creed III

10/30/2012

98%

Max Payne 3

5/15/2012

96%

Madden NFL 13

8/28/2012

96%

Resident Evil 6

11/20/2012

94%

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

10/23/2012

87%

NCAA Football 13

7/10/2012

85%

Prototype 2

4/24/2012

85%

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

5/22/2012

80%

Bioshock: Infinite

10/16/2012

79%

Tomb Raider

TBD

79%

NBA Live 13

10/2/2012

79%

Swipe to scroll horizontally

2012 Title for Wii

Release Date

Game Rank

Madden NFL 13

8/28/2012

96%

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

TBD

94%

Battleship

5/15/2012

86%

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

6/19/2012

82%

The Amazing Spider-Man

7/3/2012

82%

Men In Black

5/22/2012

81%

The Last Story

6/19/2012

64%

Xenoblade Chronicles

4/6/2012

50%

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