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Brutal Legend developer Double Fine has joined Electronic Arts, Warner Bros., and Ubisoft in showing interest in acquiring THQ assets during this month’s proposed bankruptcy auction.

Distressed Debt Investing reports that Double Fine has requested bankruptcy filings in the ongoing THQ case. It is not clear if Double Fine’s request is merely exploratory or which individual THQ assets the company may be interested in acquiring. A Double Fine representative was not immediately available to comment.

A United States bankruptcy court judge ruled this week that THQ must allow individual bids for its studios and franchises. Previously, the company had arranged a $60 million all-inclusive deal with Clearlake Capital Group. However, this move, along with the quick sale period, was contested by creditors and US Trustee Roberta DeAngelis.

THQ’s bankruptcy auction, should one be necessary, will take place January 22 at 3 p.m. EDT in Wilmington, Delaware. Up for grabs are THQ studios and properties. These include Relic Entertainment (Company of Heroes), Volition Inc. (Saints Row), former Assassin’s Creed director Patrice Désilets’s THQ Montreal (unknown), and Vigil Games (Darksiders).

Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the United States’ best-selling game for December and all of 2012, research firm NPD Group announced today. This year marks the fourth consecutive year in which a Call of Duty game has been the top-selling title.

Overall, total video game sales for December slid 22 percent to $3.21 billion, while the total year’s haul hit $13.26 billion, down 22 percent from last year’s total of $16.99 billion. NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan cautioned that this figure only represents new physical retail sales of hardware, software, and accessories, and makes up just 50 percent of total consumer spend.

“When you consider our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in December such as used and rentals at $217 million, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including microtransactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and the consumer spend on social network games at $765 million, we would estimate the total consumer spend in December to be over $4.1 billion,” Callahan said in a statement.

Hardware also took a hit during December (-20 percent to $1.07 billion) and for all of 2012 (-27 percent to $4.04 billion). Callahan said Wii U sales were lower on a unit basis when compared to the original Wii in December 2006, but due to the Wii U’s higher price, the system generated 11 percent more dollar sales year-to-date than the Wii by the end of 2006.

Separately, Microsoft announced that it sold 1.4 million Xbox 360 consoles during December. According to the Halo maker, that represents more than double the next closest competitor. Total consumer spend on the Xbox 360 platform (games, hardware, accessories) totaled $1.27 billion for the period. The Xbox 360 has now been the top-selling console in the United States for 24 straight months.

Nintendo also chimed in, saying the Wii U sold 460,000 units in December, boosting the system’s total US tally to 890,000. In all, Wii U hardware sales have generated $300 million, $30 million better than the original Wii did during the same period of time. Additionally, New Super Mario Bros. U has now sold more than 580,000 units in the US, at an attach rate of more than 65 percent.

Total software sales for December slid 27 percent to $1.58 billion, while software sales for the year suffered less, dipping 22 percent to $7.09 billion. Callahan said a major reason why retail sales for the year were down double-digits was due to a lack of new releases. According to NPD data, 2012 saw 29 percent fewer titles across consoles, portables, and PC. However, the games that were released generated 8 percent more units per title and 11 percent more dollars per title.

Another bright spot for December 2012 was Ubisoft’s action-shooter Far Cry 3

“Far Cry 3 generated positive critical reviews and ranked sixth overall based on December unit sales. This praise, along with stepping outside the hectic November launch period, led to this game being the second-most successful December launch since NPD began tracking retail sales in 1995,” Callahan said.

Switching to accessories, this unit saw revenue dive during December (-14 percent to $603 million) and for the year (-8 percent to $2.51 billion). Callahan said Activision’s Skylanders series was a continued success during the year, with character and battle packs for Skylanders Giants driving more than double the unit sales compared to the original Skylanders last year.

Additionally, December 2012 was the best December on record for point and subscription card sales on a dollar and unit basis. And lastly, the headset and headphones category within the overall accessories unit grew compared to 2011, led by sales of Turtle Beach peripherals.

DECEMBER US GAME SALES (November 25-December 29)
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total retail sales: $3.21 (-22%)
Non-PC hardware: $1.07 billion (-20%)
Non-PC software: $1.54 billion (-26%)
Accessories: $603 million (-14%)
Total software: $1.58 billion (-27%)

ANNUAL 2012 US GAME SALES
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total retail sales: $13.26 billion (-22%)
Non-PC hardware: $4.04 billion (-27%)
Non-PC software: $6.71 billion (-23%)
Accessories: $2.51 billion (-8%)
Total Software: $7.09 billion (-22%)

TOP 10 GAMES FOR DECEMBER 2012
Title (Platforms) – Publisher
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) – Activision Blizzard
2. Just Dance 4 (X360, Wii, Wii U, PS3) – Ubisoft
3. Halo 4 (X360) – Microsoft
4. Assassin’s Creed III (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) – Ubisoft
5. Madden NFL 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, Wii U) – Electronic Arts
6. Far Cry 3 (X360, PS3, PC) – Ubisoft
7. NBA 2K13 (X360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC) – Take-Two
8. Skylanders Giants (X360, Wii, PS3, 3DS, Wii U) – Activision
9. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) – Nintendo
10. FIFA Soccer 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii U, PSP) – Electronic Arts

TOP 10 GAMES FOR 2012
Title (Platforms) – Publisher
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) – Activision Blizzard
2. Madden NFL 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, Wii U) – Electronic Arts
3. Halo 4 (X360) – Microsoft
4. Assassin’s Creed III – (X360, PS3, PC, Wii U) – Ubisoft
5. Just Dance 4 (Wii, X360, Wii U, PS3) – Ubisoft
6. NBA 2K13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PSP, Wii U, PC) – Take-Two
7. Borderlands 2 (X360, PS3, PC) – Take-Two
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (X360, PS3, Wii, PC) – Activision
9. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, X360, DS, 3DS, PS3, PS Vita, PC) – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
10. FIFA Soccer 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii U, PSP) – Electronic Arts

To celebrate the launch of Tomb Raider this year, Microsoft has collaborated with Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix to unveil a limited edition Lara Croft themed 360 controller. Featuring a design inspired by Lara’s trials and tribulations in the series reboot, the wireless controller also contains a customizable D-pad, which is able to switch from a “plus” design to a “disc” pattern.

Fans who purchase the controller will also receive a download token for an Xbox 360 exclusive playable character–the Scavenger Archer. The controller will be available with the game’s release on March 5 in the U.S. and will cost $59.99. In Australia, the controller will launch February 21 for a recommended retail price of A$69.95.

Tomb Raider is the first instalment in the series since 2010’s downloadable multiplayer-focused Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and the first standalone game since 2008’s Tomb Raider: Underworld. Karl Stewart, Crystal Dynamics’s global brand director, revealed last year that the game’s campaign will last between 12 and 15 hours, dependent on gamers’ play style.

Tomb Raider is due out March 5, 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The next game from Dead Rising 2 developer Capcom Vancouver will not feature zombies, the studio has announced on its website. The firm, formerly known as Blue Castle Games, is building Capcom’s “next big game” and is actively recruiting staff.

According to the post, work on the untitled game is just beginning, and Capcom is only about halfway through staffing up for the project. The studio currently lists a range of career opportunities, including calls for various software engineers, a project manager, a senior game designer, and a design director.

An ideal candidate for the senior game designer position would have experience developing third-person AAA action games.

“We’re just getting started with the game so this is a great chance to really get your hands deep into the design. It’s your opportunity to put your stamp on a game early in the development process,” reads a line from the statement. “PS…No zombies.”

Capcom Vancouver was established in 2010 when Capcom purchased Blue Castle Games (The Bigs, Dead Rising 2) for an undisclosed sum as part of its global strategy of better targeting Western gamers.

Microsoft Studios will be increasingly looking to transition its major gaming titles across multiple platforms for the “connected audience”, according to Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison.

Speaking today at a London press briefing, Harrison said that the future of Microsoft Studios will be in transitioning from “device-centric” to “cloud-centric” titles accessible on multiple devices. Harrison, who held various high-level positions at Sony up until early 2008 said that such thinking “is what influenced me to join Microsoft in the first place.”

“Everything we do will have increasingly deep social and additional features that are reliant on the network, enhanced by the network, and unlocked by the network,” Harrison said, adding that Microsoft will be “moving from being creator of packaged products to being an operator of connected services.”

Harrison also unveiled a new first-party Microsoft studio named Lift London. While Lift had no titles to show at present, Harrison announced that its fledgling developer is being helmed by Lee Schuneman, a Rare veteran who started at the company as game director on Diddy Kong Racing.

According to Schuneman, Lift London is a “21st century studio” that will create “for the cloud, network and multitude of devices.” The studio will be working on “delivering entertainment as a service” and will be initially focusing on developing predominantly for Microsoft’s European territories.

Microsoft also announced that it will be recruiting over 100 new people to Microsoft Studios’ London operations before the end of the fiscal year.

Microsoft announced this morning that Slingbox co-creator Blake Krikorian has been named corporate vice president for the company’s Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB), which includes its Xbox unit. Krikorian will report to IEB chief product officer Marc Whitten.

Microsoft also confirmed today that it has acquired Krikorian’s id8 Group R2 Studios, which The Wall Street Journal first reported last week. Microsoft reportedly beat out juggernauts like Apple and Google to grab Krikorian and R2 Studios. Terms of the acquisition were not divulged.

“I look forward to helping the team define the future of entertainment and contribute to the next decade of continued innovation,” Krikorian said in a statement.

It is not clear what R2 Studios had been developing prior to Microsoft’s acquisition, though it was rumored the firm was creating technology related to “distributing and displaying digital media on TVs.”

In addition to founding R2 Studios and Sling Media with his brother Jason, Krikorian served on the Amazon board and co-founded the Philips Mobile Computing Group.

Microsoft has rapidly expanded its Xbox platform from a game-specific system to a hub for on-demand, live, and streaming video content. Microsoft has recently partnered with the likes of HBO, Comcast, Netflix, and YouTube for streaming services through the system.

MLB 2K13 will be on store shelves March 5 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, 2K Sports announced today. The game’s existence had been in question, as 2K Sports parent publisher Take-Two Interactive’s deal with Major League Baseball was reportedly due to expire at the end of 2012.

According to today’s announcement, Take-Two has reached a new agreement with Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Terms of this deal were not disclosed.

“We’d like to thank our league partners for their support in helping us reach an agreement to bring back MLB 2K,” said 2K Sports vice president of marketing Jason Argent in a statement.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price was chosen as the cover athlete for MLB 2K13. Price was the 2012 American League Cy Young Award winner, posting a 20-5 record and a league-topping 2.56 ERA.

Also returning for MLB 2K13 is the Perfect Game Challenge, which carries a $1 million cash prize. This year, a new contest format will be introduced with “exciting ways to win.” These were not detailed, though 2K Sports said additional details on the contest will be announced later. The Perfect Game Challenge is not open to those in Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, North Dakota, or Vermont.

MLB 2K13 is in development at Novato, California-based Visual Concepts.