After the gaming blizzard that was October and November, publishers are winding down the year with only a handful of releases in December. Still, a month that features Far Cry 3 and Hawken can't be completely forgettable, can it?

Looking for categories like Best PSP Driving Game? Greatest Achievement in Control Layout, Artistic? Eastern European Developer Most Worth Watching in 2011? Then our end-of-year awards might not be for you.
GamesRadar's Platinum Chalices are different. We're not interested in checking off a massively tedious list of genres, platforms and technical subdivisions… we'd much rather focus on the stuff that makes this hobby, you know, fun. And reward whichever games delivered the most of that stuff.
So if you're looking for the best fan service, most satisfying gore or greatest achievement in old-school kickassery in 2010, you've definitely come to the right celebration. Let's get it started…
IMAGE
Isaac Clarke, Raiden, Rayman, and The Prophet are just a few stars lining up for February's new release schedule. See why consoles, handhelds, and PCs will be feeling the love this month in our jam-packed peak at the games of February 2013...
Once
a videogame hero has more than one or two adventures under his or her belt, it
simply isn’t enough to just have an archenemy anymore. To keep things
interesting, they need a foil, a rival, or some other angry opposite number
obsessed with matching wits with them. Sometimes, those characters stick around
long enough to make themselves an indelible part of the series, even going so
far as to make friends with the
protagonist – although more often than not, their friendships tend to be shaky
at best, and even those involved might never fully admit to them. Relationships
like that tend to make for gaming’s most enduring and interesting rivalries,
and what follows are some of the most notable...
The world might have not liked it when it was announced, but now that it's here, is the Circle Pad Pro worth your time and (more importantly) money? We have the answer inside...
This
month's Breaking Bad cliffhanger has us all hungry for illicit
thrills. Sure, that's not a videogame (though it's inspired a couple), but with narcotics subplots in titles like Sleeping Dogs and Borderlands 2, controlled
substances are all over contemporary games. Then again, you've
probably been gettin' that yellowtop in-game for years without even
realizing it, thanks to the well-hidden drug metaphors we're
about to expose...
Now that the world hasn't ended after all, let's pretend we got caught in the apocalypse anyway, as we pick our the top wastelands we'd like to inhabit...
December may offer the true
climax of the holiday season, but in terms of new game releases, it's very much
the calm after the storm. Most of the giant blockbusters of the season made
their way out between September and November, but the final month of 2011 isn't
barren by any means: big releases like Mario Kart 7 and Star Wars: The Old
Republic lead the pack, while system-specific versions of some notable recent
titles also find their way to store shelves. But if you read this over and
don't see anything on the horizon that works you into a tizzy, surely November's overstuffed
lineup holds a few leftover options to consider...
How many lives has your favorite hero saved? Chances are, it's probably less than those on this list. See which gaming protagonist is a savior savant after the jump...
The tragic flip-side of increasingly ambitious video game narrative is when for whatever reason (more often than not an MIA sequel) an otherwise brilliant and rewarding story goes unfinished. So we've decided to help. We've decided to get you some closure by working out how nine of these unfortunately in-limbo tales should have ended. We've even done pictures to help you imagine.