Best Games Of E3 2012 Awards Nominations

Leading up to E3 2012, many of the big game announcements were unveiled early, from Star Wars 1313 to Gears of War: Judgment . Still, there were a few pleasant surprises during the five major press conferences -- Watch Dogs and Beyond: Two Souls to name just two -- in a year that focused heavily on software as the current console generation approaches the end of its life cy


E3 has always been **THE ** industry event prime for showcasing new hardware, services and of course games. Microsoft is not new to the showcase, remaining strong contenders since the announcement of the original Halo on Xbox in 2001. From the tech demo of Halo 2 in 2003 to the appearance of the first HD Gaming console in 2005. However, it is practically universally agreed that the Microsoft conference at E3 2010 had very little appeal to the fan base that the Xbox has worked so hard to amass. Alienation to some and sacrilege to others, the star of the show was Kinect; a motion control dev


The nominations were decided by all 9 of the Game Rant staff in attendance at E3 and are based upon our previews, demos and hands-on experiences with all of the available titles at the event this year. Share your thoughts on the picks and tell us what you believe deserves to win each category! - Follow me on Twitter @ rob_key


Opening up the month is the anticipated Fable Anniversary , a re-imagining of the hit RPG originally released on the Xbox nearly ten years ago. It arrives February 4th for the Xbox 360. On the 5th, internet "let's play" sensation Outlast will be available on the PS4. Later in the month, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII makes its way to the PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 11th. Rayman Legends jumps into the next-gen fray on the 18th, giving some much-needed platformer action to the PS4 and Xbox One. The Wii U gets its own taste of more platformer goodness on the 21st, when Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze swings into action. Finally, the long-awaited Thief reboot finds its way to all major platforms after nearly a decade of abse


Over the years, especially after the success of the studio's first console title, Fable , back in 2004, Molyneux has become a fan-favorite figurehead for the gaming industry - similar to the "celebrity" of similar designers like Cliff Bleszinski, Hideo Kojima, or Gabe Newell. As a result, there's little doubt that fans of the Lionhead brand will see the departure as a potential death-blow to the studio - despite Molyneux's co-founder, Mark Webley, sticking around to run the stu


There was one new IP shown that got our attention as gamers for a brief moment, Codename: KINGDOMS , with no game-play or true promotion. This was quickly watered down for those of us at home who saw those covering the event immediately drawing comparisons between this and the God of War franchise. Eventually they revealed the Xbox 360 S (a.k.a. Slim) which did little to entice owners of functioning Xbox 360s. Another thing that worked against MS was the decision to demo Call of Duty: Black Ops , a multi-platform game for a longer period of time than most of their other showcases. Yes, there was talk of some timed exclusivity for the DLC (wouldn't be MS without some) but this too was little to parade over since this deal has already been standard with bestseller Modern Warfare 2 . All things considered, the Microsoft Press Conference was almost hard to watch. I had thought ahead of time that MS could show many strong new IPs and win E3 2010, but boy was I wr


Developed by Lionhead Studios —then known as Big Blue Box — the Peter Molyneux-headed title hyped itself as only a Peter Molyneux title could, with vast, speculative suggestions, promises and ideas. Players were told of how a single acorn, planted during the game's early youth sections would sprout into a mighty oak by title's end. That particular feature, and many more like it never made the cut, but their loss didn't stop Fable from delivering an otherwise engaging and enjoyable experie


COMMERCIAL IMAGE In this photograph taken by AP Images for Xbox, Microsoft unveiled Kinect for Xbox 360 at the World Premiere Experience imagined by Cirque du Soleil on Sunday, June 13, 2010 in Los Angeles. Kinect makes you the controller; when you move your Avatar moves. (Casey Rodgers/AP Images for X


Now, for the first time in just under 10 years, fans of the original game are being given the chance to returns the wilds of Albion, (the Xbox to Xbox 360 emulation is plagued with performance issues) via the fable dlc|https://Fablechronicle.com/ Anniversary edition. Announced back in June of this year, the project, which sees the game receiving a full HD makeover , audio re-master and optional gameplay upgrade has now also received a firm release date — February 4, 2014, throughout North America and just three days later in Eur


Like most PC games, graphics settings are customizable, as are the control schemes. Unlike the 360 version, the PC version allows players to increase the difficulty level - which some may find too easy on the default setting. You'd expect a feature like this to have been available in the original version of the title - better late than never, I supp