The holidays may be over, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop. Thanks in no small part to the Spike Video Game Awards, the dead of Winter has become a hot time to reveal new games. What's next? Before the end of the week, we'll know about a brand new game coming from an unexpected developer, but what could it be?

The game in question is set to be unveiled two days from now on January 5th, and will be featured on the next cover of Game Informer magazine. The last time the mag promised an unheard of new title it delivered Obsidian Entertainment's South Park: The Game, which quickly became one of the most anticipated games of 2012.

Game Informer editor Andrew Reiner teased the reveal on Twitter.

"Our next cover is another 'what the?' type of reveal. I suspect old school gamers will freak out over this one."

According to GI's Andy McNamara, also on Twitter, "the real nuts... is the developer."

While old school gamers may not have hit the freak out point just yet, that hasn't stopped scores of them from debating just what the new game could be, particularly on NeoGAF. The discussion thread shows a lot of love for a 3DS version of F-Zero developed by either Monster Games or Retro Studios, which would almost certainly be cool -- though, given the amount of work those developers have done for Nintendo (most recently on Pilotwings Resort and Mario Kart 7, respectively), they wouldn't exactly be surprising choices.

The "old school" designation is tough to parse. Old school console gamers? Old school PC gamers? Just how old are we talking about? Mega Man old? Capcom has promised fans that it hasn't forgotten about the Blue Bomber, and has shown a willingness to work with unexpected partners, DmC Devil May Cry being the most notable (and controversial) current example.

In a likely completey unrelated bit of news, Crystal Dynamics community manager Meagan Marie shared some interesting information with fans on the Square Enix Members website.

"The New Year ushers in more than just fresh calendars and renewed resolutions. 2012 will prove to be a very exciting year for Crystal Dynamics, more so than any in recent memory. Not only will our team be eating, sleeping, and breathing Tomb Raider, but we'll also be hard at work preparing to reveal exciting new intellectual property to the world."

Equally interesting is that, prior to her gig as community manager, Marie worked in the games press. At Game Informer. Coincidence? Almost certainly (Marie does specifically refer to a new IP), but the timing of the announcements makes this one too fun to pass up.

If Crystal Dynamics was to develop an "old school" game for Square Enix, it could very well be a title from either Square or Enix's past -- for instance, the long rumored Final Fantasy VII remake (which would probably look amazing on the Tomb Raider engine), or perhaps a new ActRaiser. The possibilities are vast. Illusion of Gaia? Tobol? What about a Kingdom Hearts-style game that focuses on Dragon Quest characters?

Seriously, though, in a world where Naughty Dog can spend two years working on The Last of Us without any details leaking out, nearly anything is possible. Ranters, what do you hope the games turn out to be?

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Source: @Andrew_Reiner, @GI_AndyMc, NeoGAF, CVG

Image: thelineblurs