Even if it proves to be the end of history like the Mayans predict, 2012 is going to be one hell of a way to go out... at least for nerds. The coming months will see the return of fan favorite shows like Doctor Who and Fringe, new programs like Fox's new Lost-esque thriller Alcatraz, tons of new mainstream and indie comics, and of course videogames and blockbusters aplenty. Needless to say there are going to be plenty of entertainment options begging for your time and money. But which of these are especially noteworthy? Fear not, because just as we did last year, Topless Robot is once again helping you separate the pop cultural wheat from the chaff with this list of 17 nerdy things to look forward to in the next 365 days. Think of this list as a primer for the best ways to geek out and spend your cash this year.
17) PS Vita
The Lowdown: What would a new year be without a wholly unnecessary portable gaming system? Joking aside, Sony's PS Vita will attempt to take some of the handheld gaming market back from Nintendo thanks largely to the device's use of Augmented Reality -- a technology that utilizes the built in camera to juxtapose gaming action with real world environments (imagine Seaman on this thing? Trippy). Starting at $249, the PlayStation Vita also is backwards compatible with PSP titles and features iPhone-inspired apps as well. It's a mighty little bugger indeed, just probably not enough of one to considerably damage Nintendo's bottom line. Speaking of which, sales in Japan thus far have been disappointing in comparison to those of the 3DS. This trend that will most likely continue when the Vita debuts here, so meet 2012's first underdog. Release Date: February 22nd.
16) Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-ray
The Lowdown: Screw space, high-def is the final frontier. The long-overdue Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-rays will finally be making their way onto store shelves this year. Fortunately, it looks like they will be worth the wait. Paramount has been painstakingly recompositioning the special effects to and remastering the visuals from the original studio negatives in order to ensure that the episodes will adhere to Blu-ray quality standards and look and sound better than ever before. Alas, no amount of tinkering can make "Shades of Gray" watchable. Release Date: The Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Next Level sampler Blu-ray (featuring "Encounter at Farpoint," "Sins of the Father" and "The Inner Light") will be released on January 31st. The individual season sets will be made available throughout the year with the exact release dates to be decided.
15) Grand Theft Auto V
The Lowdown: The next entry in Rockstar's seemingly unkillable Grand Theft Auto franchise has the action once again returning to the San Andreas area. (Specifically the Los Angeles-inspired city of Los Santos). Expect the requisite violence, humor and general misanthropic behavior that you've grown to know and love from the series. Complete details about exactly what GTA 5 remain shrouded in mystery. One thing is clear however, in these heady post Saints Row: The Third days; Grand Theft Auto V will have to really ramp up the anarchy or completely reinvent itself in order to remain relevant. Release Date: You'll be able to legally indulge in your favorite criminal activities some point this summer.
14) Tron: Uprising
The Lowdown: This 10-part animated series bridges the gap between Tron and Tron: Legacy by telling the story of a young program's revolution against the tyrannical Clu 2. Despite having a new character in a leading role, the toon will feature familiar faces like Kevin Flynn and Tron himself. As you can tell from the video above, the show takes its visual cues from the sequel film as opposed to the retrotastic look of the original Tron. Not that I'm complaining. The animation on display here - a mixture of 2-D and 3-D - is stunning. Better still is that the show's voices are provided by Elijah Wood, Lance Henriksen (fuck yes!) and Bruce Boxleitner. Even though this is conceived as a limited run series, any additional exploration of the Tron world is a good thing. End of line. Release Date: Summer.
13) John Carter
The Lowdown: Does anyone else hear this title, think about how good ER was in the early years and smile? Having absolutely nothing to do with NBC's seminal medical drama, this John Carter is Disney's eagerly anticipated adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. So far, it's looking amazing. This is a budding franchise for the company, whose non-Pixar projects haven't exactly impacted the pop culture zeitgeist of late (with The Muppets being a noteworthy exception). It may seem like an odd decision to have Wall-E helmer Andrew Stanton make his live-action directing debut here, but once you see the sheer volume of effects in the trailer it's clear that his CGI-heavy background makes him more than up to the challenge. His obvious skills aside, it remains to be seen if audiences will actually turn out for this given the fact that John Carter doesn't have the mainstream awareness level of some of the other entries on this list. If crowds do turn out, expect to see cinematic adaptations of the rest of Burroughs' throwback sci-fi adventures... and hear plenty of bitching from purists. Release Date: March 9th.
12) Avengers vs. X-Men
The Lowdown: Never one for hyperbole, Marvel is billing Avengers vs. X-Men as "the biggest comic book event in history." It's questionable if the 12-issue miniseries will even come remotely close to impacting the comics industry as much as DC's recent New 52 initiative, not that it matters because the Avengers and the X-Men are going to be pummeling the living shit out of each other as they try to keep Hope Summers from becoming the next Phoenix and destroying mankind. Just another day in the Marvel Universe really. The above video gives you more information than you could possibly want about the series. To bottom line it, expect lots of surprises, action and far-reaching ramifications for both parties. Not to mention plenty of trouble for your wallet. Release Date: April.
11) Prometheus
The Lowdown: Ridley Scott is still refusing to call this Alien prequel an Alien prequel even though it clearly is. Sigh. Anyway, there's a cloak of secrecy surrounding the project that is surprising given our spoiler-driven times. That's nice I suppose. Yet as interesting and undeniably visually stunning as this project appears to be, the question should be raised if we should have the mysterious elements of Alien's back story explained (Space Jockeys, I'm talking about you). Scott recently went on record saying that the Aliens we all know and love won't be making an appearance in Prometheus. Don't believe his lies. The smart money says that not only will the creatures turn up, but we will discover that humans are directly responsible for their creation in a none-too-subtle twist given the Greek myth the film was inspired by. Release Date: June 8th.
10) Lego
The Lowdown: Fact: Legos are pure joy. Even more so when they are Legos based on licensed properties. In 2012, Legomaniacs will have more to look forward to than ever as toys and playsets based on DC superheroes, Avengers, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings hit store shelves. Also on the slate are X-Men and more Spidey offerings, marking the first time since the golden age of Mego that one company has held the rights to so many beloved genre characters. We all know that the Legos themselves will be terrific, and making a sweet deal even sweeter is the prospect of more Lego videogames spun off from the aforementioned licenses (that persistent throbbing in your nether region is a direct result of the upcoming Batman 2: DC Super Heroes game). If Lego's past handling of high-profile properties is any indication, it's a pretty safe bet that we'll see titles based on everything from Avengers to The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings saga as well. Yes friends, you can finally own a Lego Legolas. Release Date: Summer, but expect lots more information on these wonders to be revealed at Toy Fair next month.
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I'm most looking forward to the Hunger Games. The casting is amazing, there's a strong female lead, who will get to kick ass and actually be more than just some boobs for the boys to drool over. The story is incredibly strong and my only fear is that they'll put too much focus on Gale and on the socalled love triangle, which was pretty much meaningless in the actual books.
Can't wait to see Katniss and Cinna, or Katniss and Rue together on screen.
No excitement for John Dies At The End? A movie based on a book written by Cracked.com's senior editor, directed by Don Coscarelli? That's nerdy, and awesome, and this year.
I think it would actually be harder Whedon to try and make a total failure than have it actually be one.Also, "the biggest comic book event"? Seriously? Didn't they just do something extremely similar to this with Civil War? Don't get me wrong - I like the idea, and I'm all for an "Avengers vs X-Men" showdown, but c'mon.
gods so fing sick of hearing about hte 'end of the world' THE MAYAN CALANDER DOES NOT END IN DECEMBER 2012, one of the long counts of the calander does and another begins
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The Amazing Spiderman is going to be far from that, refilming it with less light and a new cast doesn't change the story. Anyone looking forward to it and worse paying to see it may as well get a DONG shooting webs around their mouths tattoo'd on their face.
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"Sony's PS Vita will attempt to take some of the handheld gaming market back from Nintendo thanks largely to the device's use of Augmented Reality -- a technology that utilizes the built in camera to juxtapose gaming action with real world environments"
Hate to disappoint anybody, but I know a few Mayans (and yes, they still exist), and none of them say the world is ending this year. It's just because you guys think 13 is such an evil evil number. In Mayan numerology, 13 and 4 are good numbers. 4 is throughout North America.
"If crowds do turn out, expect to see cinematic adaptations of the rest of Burroughs' throwback sci-fi adventures... and hear plenty of bitching from purists."
Complaining about complaining from purists on a nerd-based website? Said the pot to the kettle, away, blackbreeches!
The Mayans were frustrated by the limitations of their technology, their limited understanding of the stars and their lame imaginations, so they assumed that if they've reached their level of understanding in the world, there's nothing left to understand and the world will end with them. Yes, the Mayans were assholesNo, the world will NOT end in 2012
I've tried to keep an open mind about TDKR but I am just not feeling it. I hate the Bane costume but I've accepted that this is probably going to be Bane-in-name-only. Catwoman apparently being a 99%-er I can handle. But the sneak previews and trailers are just not doing a damn thing for me. My interest level for TDKR is right around 0%. I may skip this one in theaters and wait for Netflix to instant stream it.
I wouldn't call its omission a list fail, but I'd sure list that higher on the awesome nerdy things than #18!
Personally, I'd also replace a few of those with (hopefully) a North American (or anyway officially English) release of the new live action Space Battleship Yamato film (which I've tried to be patient about not getting here all last year); and a North American (or anyway officially English) release on video of the new live action Rurouni Kenshin film.
You mean the Criterion version that changes the name from Gojira to Godzilla and has the same transfer as the deluxe Gojira set that came out a few years ago.
Nor the Mayan's or Nostradamus ever really state that the world's going to end. The Mayans believed that this cycle in time is ending and a new one is beginning. And Nostradamus said there would be social upheaval and possibly war. So things are going to suck but humanity will probably still be around after 12/21/12.
could not agree more with this list for this year is going to be wild for fans. of all the stuff on this list though suprised dark knight rises was not at least number two or one.
The Mayans never predicted that the world would end in 2012. Their calendar simply ran out of space, like most old-school video games when a number hit 255. What they DID believe was that the world would end as soon as they stopped sacrificing enough hearts to the sun god.
If the Mayans were really smart, then would have sacrificed the hearts, then run off the screen a la "rivercity ransom" before the death registers. They would have had an unlimited number of sacrifices without a death.
Having played Saints Row the Third, which I got for Christmas, I have to give a heartfelt yawn at the prospect of more Grand Theft Auto. Is GTA the franchise for people who want a more realistic take on throwing hookers off of rooftops?
