It seems that with every year that passes with PlayStation 3 on the market, its library of annual exclusives gets stronger and stronger. For instance, 2010 was a great year, and 2011 was even better. So how's 2012 shaping up?

<a+class='autolink'+href='https://ps3.ign.com/objects/102/102920.html'>Atelier+Meruru:+The+Apprentice+of+Arland</a>

<a+class='autolink'+href='https://ps3.ign.com/objects/116/116598.html'>Closure</a>

<a+class='autolink'+href='https://ps3.ign.com/objects/129/129576.html'>Datura</a>

<a+class='autolink'+href='https://ps3.ign.com/objects/124/124344.html'>Doctor+Who:+The+Eternity+Clock</a>

<a+class='autolink'+href='https://ps3.ign.com/objects/027/027062.html'>Dust+514</a>

Below, you will find a list of 20 games being released in 2012 that can only be played on PlayStation 3. While there are actually more than 20 PS3 exclusives in 2012 (plus a slew of rumored games), these are the 20 we've boiled down to in order to appeal to the widest array of gamers.Feel free to click on the name of each game in the list for more information you may want, including release date details, further news and articles, imagery and video. Please keep in mind that the games are presented in alphabetical order, and aren't ordered in any sort of way indicating the games we're most or least anticipating.And a huge thank you to Brian Altano for the art used in this article.PlayStation gamers know the developer Gust well, especially if they're into JRPGs. Its Atelier, Mana-Khemia and Ar tonelico franchises are beloved in Japan, as has been the case since Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg was released on the PlayStation way back in 1997. However, few of those games ever came to the west: Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana on the PS2 was the first Gust-developed game American and European audiences ever saw.However, publisher NIS has found a thriving niche market in North America in particular, and Gust releases are far more routine now. Aterlier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland is set to come exclusively to PlayStation 3 in North America this May, as we first reported over a year ago. As the third game in the "Arland branch" of the series (and 13th Atelier game overall), JRPG fans will likely find plenty to love when the game finally comes Stateside.If you like freaky, ambient and outright creepy games, Closure might be for you. It's one of only two games on this list that, at the time this was posted, is already out on PlayStation 3. But it's so outrageously good that we had to recommend it to you anyway. A unique puzzler from the three-man team at studio Eyebrow Interactive , Closure impressed us enough that we gave it an 8.0 and bestowed upon it the moniker of a great game. And a great game it is.What's so great about Closure is that it boldly approaches the puzzle genre in a way that pretty much no game ever has. It's all about controlling light, and what you see truly is what you get. If a light is beaming on a platform, you can walk on it. If it's not, that platform exits from view and you can no longer use it, even if you know it's there. By manipulating lights in your environment, you can therefore complete the puzzle and move onto the next. If it sounds mind-bending, that's because it is, but rest assured it's as rewarding as it is challenging.Datura is an upcoming PlayStation Network game from Polish developer Plastic , which PSN players may remember as the developer of the demoscene project Linger in Shadows. This time around, Plastic's new project is decidedly more game and less demo, and Datura holds an exceptional amount of promise as an immersive experience. Everything you do in Datura revolves around choice, and the game can play and end in any number of ways depending on the specific choices you make.Datura in nature is also a flower known for its hallucinogenic properties, which makes perfect sense the second you begin to play the game for yourself. Surreal and dream-like, Datura can be played with the PlayStation Move controller or the DualShock, so you're never locked in to motion controls if you don't want to use them (or don't own a Move of your own). Datura is primed for release relatively soon, but perhaps our recent hands-on preview will give you an idea of what to expect in the meantime.This title might not technically be a PS3 exclusive, but PlayStation 3 is the only console getting the title (along with PlayStation Vita and PC). Either way, Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock looks quite promising. Under development at Sony second-party developer Supermassive Games , Doctor Who has been pushed around the release schedule a bit, but is still primed to come out very soon on the PlayStation Network.Of course, how this game is connected to the television series is a very common question. The good news is that it's intimately connected to the BBC franchise, right down to the stars of the series, Matt Smith and Alex Kingston, lending full voiceovers to the project. Indeed, motion capture has also put those stars in the game more directly, making for a more believable television show tie-in than what otherwise may have been possible.Sheer promise and potential is written all over Dust 514, the outrageously ambitious first-person shooter currently being developed by CCP . What's so potential-ridden and ambitious about Dust 514, you ask? It's simple. First off, Dust 514 will be available as a download on PlayStation Network, and it'll be given to PSN gamers completely free of charge (which a microtransaction economy within the game, of course). But it's the way the game intimately intertwines with another title that's not even playable on PlayStation 3 that's truly interesting.You see, Dust 514 takes place in the same epic universe that CCP's MMO EVE Online does. That means that what happens in one game directly affects the other, bringing Dust 514's level of outrageousness to an unforeseen level in the history of gaming. EVE Online is all about epic ship-to-ship space battles; Dust 514 is all about what happens on the surface of planets. How this coordinated dance will actually shape-up remains to be seen, but if pulled off properly, Dust 514 could very well be one of the most important games of the generation in terms of the precedent it could set.