Games on my radar for the rest of 2012

In just a couple of weeks, the annual deluge of games will begin in earnest (for me, at least). Of course, this knowledge hasn't stopped me from picking up cheap older games over the last month or two... nor did it prevent me from taking advantage of the recently completed Steam Summer Sale.

(Although for a Mac user like me, that just means buying a handful of the few indie games that release cross platform as well as picking up an older title like KOTOR. I've considered getting an inexpensive Windows laptop to expand my Steam options, as well as making some space on our iMac's hard drive and using Boot Camp to create a Windows partition. Yes, I consider those options, and then I realize how many freaking games are coming out for the 360 and PS3, and I settle down again.)

I've had a watch list prepared for a while, adjusting the release dates as they've been announced and/or moved. If I could, I'd buy all of the following:

• Darksiders 2 (August 14) - The first Darksiders is my favorite Zelda game since Ocarina of Time. It seems doubtful that Nintendo will ever radically depart from Link's usual setting and story, so Vigil's take on that genre was very welcome. And as an atheist who finds biblical mythology fascinating, I really enjoyed the job they did creating the Darksiders universe. Plus, I have a soft spot for Joe Mad's over the top character designs. Now we're getting a sequel that's supposed to feature loot and Prince of Persia-esque movement? If being derivative is wrong, I don't want to be right!
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (August 21) - I loved what High Moon Studios did with Transformers: War for Cybertron in terms of character design and combat, so even more of that is very much welcome. Probably not an immediate purchase, but certainly down the road. And I'd be remiss if I didn't link to one of my favorite game trailers this year.
• Borderlands 2 (September 18) - Yet another highly anticipated sequel. I put a ton of hours into the first Borderlands, and while I did feel like the DLC expansions were a case of increasingly diminishing returns (or possibly just burnout), the core game was still one of the most fun, expected surprises of the last few years. I'll miss my sniper-loving Hunter character with his killer bird of prey, but everything I've seen about Borderlands 2 so far fills me with confidence.
• Dishonored (October 9) - Finally, a new IP! Every video I've watched for Dishonored has left my eager to play the game. Steampunk first person Assassin's Creed meets Bioshock? Holy crap, yeah! This will be an immediate purchase... which is mildly unfortunate, because Oct. 9 is the first week of the fall to feature two releases on my radar.
• XCOM: Enemy Within (October 9) - I'm one of those weirdos who is actually still more excited about the FPS XCOM game that supposedly is still on the horizon, but my interest in this one has grown a great deal over the past few months. The visual design looks great, and even though I'm not a big fan of strategy games, what I've seen so far reminds me of Valkyria Chronicles enough that I'd like to give it a try.
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter (October 23) - Maybe? Probably? I liked the single player in the previous MoH game, but was supremely frustrated by the multiplayer due to some map design issues. Namely, I felt like I couldn't even get out of our spawn points without being sniped. So I'll give this one a cautious look again, but a purchase may not happen. Further complicating matters is that I no longer have a significant number of friends with whom I regularly game online; our schedules have grown apart over the years and a few have latched on tightly to one game in particular (Battlefield).
• Assassin's Creed 3 (October 30) - Oh sweet fancy moses, yes. I have to admit, after AC: Brotherhood, I thought Ubisoft had gone back to the well once too often and so I skipped AC: Revelations. However, it speaks to the underlying quality of that franchise (and my love of American history) that a new setting and new character have me TOTALLY on board for AC3. I am also very, very tempted to spend gobs of money on one of the junk-filled special editions.
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted (October 30) - I'm a Burnout guy. Always have been. So when Criterion took over the NFS franchise, I was both excited and disappointed.  Excited because they brought some of what I love to the higher profile NFS series and produced Hot Pursuit, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Disappointed because as good as it was, it's still not Burnout: the cars just don't drive quite the same. I am dying to throw my car at full speed into a corner, kick into a drift, and rocket out again. Basically, I hate braking. At any rate, Most Wanted looks terrific, like a NFS-ized version of Burnout Paradise. I guess I'll take what I can get.
• Halo 4 (November 6) - Oh, why the hell not. I hate Halo multiplayer, but something about the franchise's fiction keeps drawing me back in. I suppose I should finish Reach at some point first, though.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (November 13) - Again... why the hell not. I'm curious to see if the reports of slightly tweaked design (branching storylines? In a CoD game) are true, and if Treyarch has changed the formula enough to produce something fresh and interesting. If nothing else, I'm sure we'll get another "Why am I an astronaut?" moment.

So that's the list. There will be a few more things that pop up, I'm sure (XBLA games, some unexpected strong reviews). I know Skylanders Giants will be out, and the first game was lots of fun playing co-op with my daughter... until the final boss, which we still haven't beaten and is a total pain in the ass. Hitman: Absolution looks good, but that level of precision in a stealth kill game might be beyond my poor dadgamer skills at this point. Plus, I've still got a backlog of games I need to finish...