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The 6 most disappointing games and trends of 2012 (pictures)

This year wasn't too kind to video games. Among 2012's thousands of releases, only a select few games and trends will be bestowed with the label "most disappointing."

Jeff Bakalar
Jeff is CNET Editor at Large and a host for CNET video. He's regularly featured on CBS and CBSN. He founded the site's longest-running podcast, The 404 Show, which ran for 10 years. He's currently featured on Giant Bomb's Giant Beastcast podcast and has an unhealthy obsession with ice hockey and pinball.
Jeff Bakalar
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1 of 6 Jeff Bakalar/CNET

E3 2012

By now it's no secret that 2012 wasn't a great year for gaming in general, but perhaps no other event reinforced that feeling than this year's E3 convention in Los Angeles.

Chalk it up as a "filler year" or the stagnant wait time in between consoles cycles, but E3 has a lot to make up for in 2013. New systems from Microsoft and Sony are almost guaranteed to, at the very least, be teased, so hopefully the buzz will create the shot in the arm this industry so desperately needs.

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2 of 6 PlayStation.Blog

Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified (Vita)

What on earth happened to Call of Duty on the PlayStation Vita? Its console counterpart provides an excellent campaign and arguably the best online multiplayer experience to date, so what went wrong with the portable version that had industry pundits like Polygon's Russ Frushtick tweeting out "Call of Duty Vita feels like they got someone on Canal Street to make it for them"?

Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified provides almost no entertainment value whatsoever and is, for all intents and purposes, a broken game. A laundry list of complaints coupled with a disastrous multiplayer made it painfully obvious that this game was just a chance to cash in on the CoD brand, and not make a compelling piece of software.

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3 of 6 CNET

The Wii U launch

The Wii U hype train was running on all cylinders up until its November 18 release, and despite selling out most of its initial supply, the Wii U has failed to resonate with gamers across the board. Be it missing features at launch or a lackluster set of debut games, the Wii U pales in comparison to its predecessor. There's plenty of time for this console to mature, but it'll be an uphill battle.
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4 of 6 Terminal Reality

Star Wars Kinect

Not that any Kinect game really stood out in 2012, but one title, despite its confusing runaway success, baffled critics across the board. Star Wars Kinect was just awful, and it brought none of what Microsoft had teased at prior E3's to reality.

Instead, we were left with a clunky, unresponsive flailing-arms-fest, devoid of any sort of suavity and finesse. You know, just like a real Jedi.

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5 of 6 Sarah Tew/CNET

There's already a Vita game drought

Less than a year since its release, the well of must-own Vita titles has dried up. Sure, there're a few gems hidden in the PSN store, but the system has not been able to even come close to the impressive launch list that hit back in February.

The promises of triple-A titles like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty turned out to be disappointments, and save for rare successes, the Vita is starting to get lonely.

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6 of 6 Capcom

Resident Evil 6 and Raccoon City

If it weren't for Resident Evil Revelations on the 3DS, the Resident Evil franchise might have been dead in the water by year's end.

Two disappointing titles soiled the series' reputation this year, leaving gamers wondering what went wrong. For starters, Resident Evil Raccoon City failed to entertain on any level. Its clunky gameplay and ugly design rendered it painful to play.

Resident Evil 6, a game that shares its name with some of history's best, went completely off the rails by abandoning a sizable portion of what RE veterans have come to know and love for nearly two decades.

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