The Hottest Video Games This Christmas

This season’s top games for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 don’t hold back! Check out the major adrenalin rush of the adventure and fantasy titles. Getting tons of buzz are battle bonanzas Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, HALO: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Battlefield 3 and the latest in the uber-popular third-person shooter series, Gears of War 3. New fantasy role-playing games include the critical fave The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, plus Revelations, the latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Kinect games employ a sensor device that allows players to interact without controllers, via speaking and simple gestures. Top titles in this super-fun category include Just Dance 3, Kinect Sports Season 2, Disneyland Adventures and the popular dance-exercise hybrid, Zumba Fitness.

Wii gamers are gonna have a blast playing the latest mega-interactive titles made for the clever console. The hottest pick? The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the fastest-selling entry in the franchise. Slightly younger kids can build their gaming skills with LEGO: Harry Potter: Years 5-7, and Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is rated E 10+ and comes with three interactive action figures and a Portal of Power peripheral. Mario Brothers fans rejoice: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games features the whole gang competing against the world’s virtual athletes. Disney Epic Mickey is a 2010 release, but it is still a hot seller, and its E rating ensures the whole family can play this art-oriented action game. A game of a rougher sort is played in Madden NFL '12, but it’s also rated E for everyone. The Wii version of Just Dance 3 will get tweens moving, while Wipeout: The Game takes off in the same crazy direction as its namesake TV show.

Along with the big multi-console gaming titles like Batman Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Sony’s PlayStation 3 boasts a buzz-heavy title made for that platform: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception gets stellar reviews and follows the Nathan Drake saga to more exotic and dangerous locales. A little less intense (and rated T for 13 and up), but no less fun, is the comics-based Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, now featuring more refined online play than the un-Ultimate version. If you’re in the mood for sports, the PS3 is game: Both FIFA Soccer '12 and WWE '12 take your mad skills to the limit. The PlayStation also has a controller-based option called the Move, an interactive wand used in game play, and the hottest titles for this device include Tron: Evolution, the post-apocalyptic Resistance 3, the interplanetary war saga Killzone 3, plus hoops-happy NBA 2K12 and kid-friendly Little Big Planet 2.

3D is where to be, and Nintendo’s got it in the latest upgrade to their popular DS handheld gaming system. The younger crowd loves these miniature marvels, and many of the best-selling and best-reviewed titles are kid-friendly. Released earlier this year, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is the third sequel in the Star Wars series exploring galaxies far, far away, while Star Fox 64 3D takes you to an entirely different part of the universe. Seemingly ageless franchise Super Mario Brothers goes small-scale but packs the punch of 3D in Mario Kart 7 and the just released Super Mario 3D Land. Last summer saw the arrival to the 3DS of a true console classic, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The new console can also play regular DS games, so consider the frenzied fun of Kirby Mass Attack, the too-cute Pokemon Black Version, the historically-based Professor Layton and the Last Specter, or a favorite of many of us older kids (aka adults), Bejeweled Twist.