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

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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