Syncing from ipad2 to ipad air

So, I waited patiently over the last almost three years. Finally asked for an iPad air for Christmas. Ask and you shall receive, right? So anyway, I got my new iPad and just like most impatient children I started it up and downloaded most of my apps from the cloud before syncing with my computer, forgetting all the metadata( or whatever it's called). The next day I went and synced it to my computer to get my music and stuff onto my new iPad from a previous Ipad2 backup. But all my game data is gone. Of course that means I have tostart most of my games over from scratch. I thought if I synced it with my old backup I would have kept that information. So, now I know there is one IOS update available and am about to do the update through Itunes. But I was wondering if I do the update, then back up from an even earlier backup would I get that game data back so I can continue some of those games? And if I do a restore from that earlier date, and then again from the day after Christmas, will I still keep some of that game info or will I be just shooting myself in the foot. I have some new games I have added to my new iPad and some of that game data I don't want to lose if I do the IOS update and restore. I hope someone understands my ramblings here. Thanks

via iLounge Forums http://forums.ilounge.com/ipad/279823-syncing-ipad2-ipad-air.html