End of the world or not, 2012 promises to usher in a number of breathtaking games for avid enthusiasts. Here’s a list of the top 20 games that are expected to set off gamers’ adrenaline and blow their minds.

1. Final Fantasy XIII-2

photo credit: katclay

To be released on January 31, this is the sequel of the Final Fantasy XIII. The game provides a darker mood than its predecessor. It involves some interesting elements like time travel in it. Initial reports suggest that the storyline would be a brain bending one.

2. Mass Effect 3

Check out Commander Amanda Shepard fight against aliens, trying to ruin their plans of world invasion. This futuristic game is the last chapter of the story. The game is supposed to release in March 2012.

3. Uncharted: Golden Abyss

photo credit: PopCultureGeek.com

Like the previous games of this series, it’s anticipated that this game too will deal with the adventures similar to Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones. Gamers should look forward for the new touch pad motion sensor of the game console PlayStation Vita. Set to release on 22 Feb.

4. Twisted Metal

Scheduled to be released on the 14th of Feb, the latest version of the game allows four users on the console or 15 players on the internet to wipe out larger number of vehicles than the previous versions.

5. Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D

This is the ported version of the PS2 version of Metal Gear series. The release date of the game has been decided for February.

6. Syndicate

The cyberpunk game is an improved version of the game that was first launched in the year 1993. The release date of this game, a cross between Deus Ex and Crysis, has been fixed on February 21.

7. Halo 4

photo credit: felixtsao

If rumors are to be believed then this game is going to be the first game of a trilogy named Reclaim. The game will be launched in 2012, sometime in its second quarter.

8. Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm

photo credit: My Blue Van

The second of the three series odyssey offers exciting changes, including differences in the multiplayer gaming experience. Around 20 additional singleplayer missions are included in the game. The game will be released in the second quarter of 2012. [Editor's note: Really stoked for this one!]

9. Xcom

Earlier known as X-com, this game is a mix of a tactics game and X-files. Expected date of release is March 6.

10. Minecraft

The game considered one of the best games witnessed is now coming to the Xbox and will support Kinetic too. The second quarter of 2012 has been decided for the release of the game.

11. Far Cry 3

photo credit: shanewarne_60000

The third in the series is set back again in the tropical jungle just like the first game of the series. There is no more specific release date of the game, but it’s promised to be out in 2012.

12. Diablo III

Ending the long wait of gamers, the next sequel of Diablo will be released during 2012. This version is supposed to bring a lot many changes and possibilities in terms of online gaming and game tactics.

13. Metal Gear Solid Rising

To be released sometime during 2012, MGS Rising has been developed with more attention on action and fighting techniques.

14. The Last Guardian

The game was first shown in E3 in 2009 and since then the release of the game has been postponed many times. The developer team now has declared the release of the game in 2012.

15. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

The fourth expansion pack of the game World of Warcraft is expected to release in 2012 though there is no confirmation of the date of release yet.

16. Max Payne 3

The sequel to Max Payne 2 will be launched in 2012 after almost 10 years of gap in between. [Hope it's better than the movie!]

17. Hitman: Absolution

photo credit: Symic

The game that came with puzzles and penalties is ready with its new version with a lot of changes and modifications. There is no confirmed news on its date of release so far.

18. Grand Theft Auto V

photo credit: Joe Fakih Gomez Photography

A new version of the controversial game has been developed by Rockstar and is ready for release in 2012.

19. Borderlands 2

With four new heroes and new weapons in a brand new story, the sequel of the hit game of 2009 is ready to be released in 2012.

20. Bioshock Infinite

photo credit: zampano1212

Though it shares the name with Bioshock, it’s not entirely a sequel to the game or its second version. This fresh shooting game set in a dream-like backdrop will be ready to be released sometime in 2012.

With all these games on offer, there’s no doubt that the year 2012 will be exciting and thrilling for gamers. Whether you like to twitch your mind with puzzles or be the savior of the world, all varieties of games will be on your palate to choose from in the coming year. Enjoy!

This post was written by Alia Haley. Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology, home designing, luxury and environment. Besides this she is very fond of games. Recently an article on PCI Graphics Card attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on Android games.

It’s obvious that OS X looks infinitely better than Windows (Vista included, even freaking Windows 7 included — I’ve seen those screenshots, and they’re not pretty). But my problem with Macs is that they cost an arm and a leg — for the price I’m paying, I could be receiving a ton more in hardware. Which might not seem like that big a problem — but I, much like many of yourselves, am on a budget. Meaning I can’t afford the Macbook Pro, which would’ve been fine had I been willing to sacrifice performance. I’m not. I want performance. I’m telling you straight up that my Dell Inspiron 6400 can perform just as well as a current Macbook (graphics not taken into account, because the nVidia Go! 7300 is a bit weak). Nonetheless, my point is my machine from two years ago for less than the price of a Macbook today, can perform just as well, or even outperform, one of today’s Macbooks (fancy wordplay).

My Dell Inspiron 6400 has:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 (Merom/1.83 GHz/2MB L2)
• Nanya Technology 2x1GB PC2-4200 @ 4-4-4-12
• NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 128MB
• Seagate 320GB 5400RPM SATA
• 15.4-inch, 1280×800 pixel display

A current $1,399 Macbook has:

• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
• 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x1GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
• 160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
• 13.3-inch, 1280×800 pixel display

I know that most speeds are different, but I hope I got my point across — with similar processors and RAM, a larger hard drive, and a physically larger display, it wouldn’t be worth it for me to spend another $1,399 (before tax) on a Macbook juuuust yet. I’m a full-time student, so I have to keep my spending as tight as possible, for my own good (haha).

Point made — so, I want OS X on my Dell Inspiron 6400. Ordinarily, I would have stopped there, because it used to be technically impossible. Thankfully, Project OSx86 was created and we can now install a copy of OS X onto our ‘ordinary’ PC’s. I’m now going to warn you about some of the moral things wrong with this:

1. Users can’t install OS X on non-Apple hardware. Last time I checked, it was in the OS X EULA (I’m 92% sure it still is and always will be — how else would Apple make any money?).
2. Users also should have a licensed version of Leopard before they install Leopard on their PC’s. I just feel that this step is necessary to ensure that we are doing it for the right, honourable reason. I’m picking my copy up soon. I’ll post pictures when I do. And if I don’t pick a copy of Leopard up, it’s because…
3. Users should be intending to purchase a Mac, and using this version only as something like a ‘trial’ version to get them accustomed to Mac OS X. I intend to purchase a Macbook this summer (well, I kind of have to — the guilt of doing something like this isn’t right — see reason #1).

As long as we admit that we aren’t going to use this as a permanent solution, I think it’s justifiable even to Apple. For the reason that we are going to buy your product soon and need time to adapt to it (for example, finding software for it).

The Installation

Alright, moving on from guilt to the actual process. There are typically 3 stages of installing OS X onto your PC.

1. Preparation and Downloading — downloading and burning the actual disc. Also, partitioning would be a good idea.
2. Installing — booting up on the disc and then arranging your drive types.
3. Troubleshooting…because there will be trouble. Drivers, software, whatever.

1. Preparation and Downloading

Typically, this is the easy stage. Download an image (I found Kalyway 10.5.2 very friendly, but I can’t provide links — find it yourself). Try to download it all in one session, because I found that my success with Kalyway was mainly owed to the constant downloading. I’m paranoid of Torrents missing some data when I pause it accidentally or shut down the computer. So leave your computer on overnight, and/or while you’re at work/school, and don’t touch anything until the .iso image gets fully downloaded.

Burn it using CDBurnerXP. Typically, I’ve read stories about installations being more successful when burned onto a DVD-R, but I used a DVD-RW without a problem (I like their re-usability).

If you plan to use strictly OS X on your PC, then you don’t need to partition.

If you want to dual-boot Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X, then you’ll want to partition your drives accordingly. Meaning one drive for Windows, and one drive for Mac. I have one for Windows, one for Documents, and one for Mac. The hard drive partition for Mac should be empty right now, so don’t worry about it. If you’re using Windows Vista, instructions for partitioning are here. XP users I can’t say for sure, but I found a post on how to partition here. Comments in the post are interesting too, read them.

2. Installing

If everything went alright, then you should have a burnt disc. Take it out, inspect it, and then put it back in your drive. Reboot your computer. At the blue/black manufacturer screen (mine says Dell, yours might say HP or Sony or something), press the according button to boot via CD/DVD drive (I think for Dell users it’s F2 or F12). You should see a bunch of text on a black screen, then after a few moments, the OS X installer should pop up. Proceed through the installer, pause on the last step before installing. You’re going to want to customize it according to your computer, because OS X typically isn’t compatible with all sorts of hardware by default. This will be a problem later on.

The installation typically takes an hour including the disc check (I did it for my first couple of times), half an hour without. After rebooting, your computer should play the welcome video (if you have graphical stuttering, it’s because you have a dual core machine and OS X is being cooky. Reboot, type in ‘-v’ and press enter. Then type in ‘cpus=1′ and press enter. Everything should be fine. Type in the information (I didn’t use my real information because I’m really, really paranoid).

3. Troubleshooting

Drivers don’t work. It’s a normal thing. What’s not normal is if everything works fine with your OS X installation on your PC (which can now be dubbed a ‘hackintosh’). Proceed to InsanelyMac and search everything you can find about your specs. Even better — register and write about your problems, or thank them for their work.

Dell Inspiron 6400 users are in luck — user Devilhood has written up a comprehensive guide on how to get everything working on your Dell Inspiron 6400: from sound, to displays. Here’s the link to his guide.

The Secret

The secret is in two parts — the philosophy, and the methodology of installation. Your philosophy at all times should be that you have lived until now without OS X, and you can continue living without OS X. With this mentality, you will be able to sacrifice your stable installation to install some weird drivers to make everything work — which is your goal, to have a functional Hackintosh. Your methodology should be simple and easy — stick to Google and InsanelyMac for your problems. I can be of minor service if you are a Dell Inspiron 6400, but I will not go out of my way to help you find out whether your video card is compatible or something complex like that (sorry, but I’ve got my own things to work on too).

And always remember you can go back to Windows at any time. I know you don’t want to, and you know you don’t want to — but I’ve had to repeatedly agree to the concept of buying a Mac and actually overspending. Because of this though, I feel that I can actually move on and purchase a real Mac eventually. Haha.

I wish you luck. Feel free to comment or pose questions. If you need something silly, like the knowledge of how to get dual monitors to work on your Dell Inspiron 6400 or how to get sound to work, I think I can be of minor assistance.

And in the end, it took me a year and three months to figure out how to do this properly. So be persistent. Prior to 2009, I didn’t even get past the second stage of installation — so yeah, I didn’t get to see an actual working desktop until early March (during the break, when I swore to myself I’d get it working). If you want to see a result of my frustration (and a barrage of insults on my intelligence, haha), feel free to read this post where I wrote about my installing of OS X in third-person and referred to myself as ‘a friend’ because of my paranoia.

As my GameSpy newsletter got delivered (I’ve been subscribed for a couple of years now, actually), I glazed over it just the slightest bit. Scrolling past the GTA IV hype, something piqued my interest. Was that the guy from Assassin’s Creed, or was it just me? I clicked the hyperlink which led me here. I found myself instantly wishing:

• I had an Xbox 360.
• I had a Playstation 3.
• I had a more powerful PC.

From what I’ve made out of the videos so far, Prototype is centered around a single protagonist who has had experiments performed on him by the military, which ended up mutating him and transforming him. He can grow spikes from pretty much anywhere on his body, can generate armour, and is pretty bulletproof. I haven’t even got started about the best parts of the game yet.

The environments: from what I’ve seen, Prototype is something like a modern-day Assassin’s Creed. It’s got the guy in the hood (tip of the tongue, forgot his name), it’s got the melee attacks, and it’s got the really next-generation city interaction where you can kill/absorb pretty much anyone in order to get those goals accomplished. The city is basically a replication of New York City with 110 of their most significant buildings – definitely more than enough for me.

Of course, just watching it won’t sell it. A few more things need to happen:

• It needs to break through with a better storyline and less repetitive gameplay than what I’ll now refer to as its ancestor, Assassin’s Creed.
• It has better marketing than Assassin’s creed, which was already pretty hyped.
• It gets ported to the Wii. For me, if not for the other people who will buy it.

Words can’t describe as well as a video, so watch it. Anyway, that’s enough out of me for one day. I’m going to sit back, relax, and see how this folds out. Hopefully it does get ported, but I’m going to doubt that. Since when does a little blogger like me get listened to?

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