By Nelson Schneider - 07/05/12 at 01:42 PM CT

Welcome to another look into the near future. As the summer game drought continues, let’s see what has managed to trickle forth from the dry well in July.

In a shocking turn of events, not a single FPS is coming in July. Is this a sign that the Mayans were right about the world coming to an end? If so, why are there no FPSes in July, while the Mayan calendar runs out in December? Regardless, I’m just happy that the cockroach of genres this-gen is taking a little break.

Of course, the OTHER genre cockroach is still going strong: Licensed games. This month every platform capable of running it is getting a tie-in for “Ice Age 3: Continental Drift.” In addition, the two big-boy consoles are getting a licensed exercise game based on Adidas shoes for use with their respective motion controllers.

The only other noteworthy console releases consist of multi-platform titles. For driving fans, there’s “Test Drive: Ferrari Legends.” For jocks, there’s “NCAA Football 13.” And for everyone else there’s the pirate-themed Hack ‘n Slash sequel, “Risen 2: Dark Waters.”

That doesn’t seem like very many games, does is? Well that’s because, after getting the shaft last month, this month the handhelds are bursting with new stuff… well, at least the 3DS is. The only non-3DS game of note for July is a remake of the 4th entry in the ‘Growlanser’ series, “Wayfarer of Time,” available in the U.S. for the first time. The 3DS, however, is getting “Theatrhythm Final Fantasy,” “Heroes of Ruin,” a new ‘Kingdom Hearts’ game, and a port of the unreasonably-beloved PC Adventure, “Myst.”

So, it looks like July is yet another relaxing month of backlog stagnation. If I had any means of playing PSP or 3DS games without having to use an actual PSP or 3DS, I’d probably go for “Wayfarer of Time” and “Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.” As it is, though, I won’t be buying anything in July… except for “The Last Story,” which had its release date pushed-back from June… provided its release date doesn’t get pushed-back again.

Backlog Embiggened: +0