CLAIRE PULPHER takes a look at the new titles nerdy gamers can look forward to this year

Welcome to 2013. A year that promises to be a year for true, nerdy gamers.

2012 gave us Black Ops and Halo 4 – great – but 2013 is about the comebacks and the new generation.

I am, of course, going to take a look at the big titles heading our way but I can confidently say that I absolutely cannot wait to get in there and try them out for myself – providing we all survived the Mayans’ apocalyptic predictions, that is.

* Broken Sword: The Serpent’s Curse (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android): Words can’t describe how excited I am about this title. George Stobbart and Nico Collard return in another action-packed, sometimes scary and undoubtedly hilarious point and click adventure. After discovering that the original voice actors are returning and that Barrington Pheloung will again be composing the music, it's a modern classic waiting to happen.

I for one had given up hope on the series returning with its fifth installment after the abysmal episode 4; however thanks to a beautiful organisation known as Kickstarter, it has come to be.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kickstarter, it is a site that allows developers and designers to promote ideas and request pledges from fans to get the idea into production.

Revolution pitched their concept to fans and it flew. Pledgers could donate varying amounts receiving anything from a keyring to a guided tour of the studio and a cameo role in the game. If I were a millionaire I would think of no better way to spend my money than invest in a mini me to go hunting for murderers dressed as clowns with a failed lawyer in a computer game.

The Serpent’s Curse will see George and Nico ‘miraculously’ bumping into each other at a Parisian art gallery (no surprises there then) and then being lead across the world, probably to some middle eastern country. Although the games are undoubtedly predictable, they do what they do best and never fail to disappoint. Creator Charles Cecil has confirmed it will be in classic 2D as well.

* Ouya: Yet another project funded by Kickstarter, the Ouya, below, is a brand new generation of games console. It takes the concept of the tablets and smartphones by running Android as the operating system but is a stand alone console like your PS3 or Xbox. It is estimated to be selling at a very modest price and the games will be free. Yes. Free. I know what you’re thinking, nothing is ever free.

A bit like when they said cars would run on water and corn and cost about 20p to refill. But this is the way that gaming seems to be going. Not that I’m complaining of course as long as the games aren’t a series of boring and predictable Angry Birds spin offs. Which is probably going to be the case for the first couple of months.

* Grand Theft Auto V: Arguably one of the best series going – even though it is unnecessarily violent, it can be strangely comical in ways, for example, seeing a serial killer try and cause harm by hitting things with a bunch of roses. Reminds me of a piece of art by Banksy.

The game will again follow a character based storyline with many challenges but will also feature, as standard, a huge map for countless exploring and more mini games than there have been episodes of X Factor.

Other games to look out for include...

* Dead Space 3

* Pro Evolution Soccer 2013

* Crysis 3

* Metal Gear Rising: Revengance

* Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

All-in-all an exciting year for classic comebacks and a taste of the new generation through the release of the Ouya.

And also making re-entries are Tomb Raider, Rayman Legends, SimCity and Sonic All-Star Racing.