Survey Shows Gears Of War 3 As Most Anticipated Purchase In U.S., U.K.

A new survey by tracking firm Ipsos OTX MediaCT shows Gears of War 3 as the upcoming 'core' game wanted most by gamers in the U.S. and U.K. during February 2011. Respondents were four to five times more likely to indicate a desire to purchase the Xbox 360 third-person shooter than the average game in the survey, according to Ipsos' "purchase intent index." But Blizzard's Diablo III and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword were both cited more often in respondents' "top three" planned upcoming game purchases, leading Ipsos to call them the most "recession proof" games on the list. Ipsos also measured respondents' mere awareness of upcoming games, finding the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Mortal Kombat as by far the most recognizable titles in the survey. Other notable games ranked in the top ten for purchase intent by Gameplan Insights in the United States include Pokemon Black/White (Nos. 5 and 3, respectively), Killzone 3 (No. 7) the new Twisted Metal (No. 9) and Mass Effect 3 (No. 10). The full chart shows significant differences in which games are most anticipated by British and American audiences. Forza Motorsport 4, for instance, ranks third in the British list but 24th on the American side. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, on the other hand, is fourth in the U.S. but 25th in Great Britain. All 25 of the top-ranked intended purchases in the U.S. are either sequels or associated with licenses drawn from other media. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was the only Wii title on the list, compared to 11 PS3 games and 9 Xbox 360 games. Ipsos' data is based on internet surveys of 1,000 game players and purchasers, who were asked to rank their purchase intent for a variety of upcoming games on a scale of 1 to 11. Surveys took place in the first two weeks of February. The top 25 games, ranked by U.S. purchase intent, are listed in the below image (click for slightly larger version):