ah how could I forget mario party? Maybe because I've never played it. Yes, I can imagine coming up with new names would get difficult after 8 ;) metroid prime, however, I should have remembered, I was just playing it earlier today

Looking forward to Mario Party 8 because I can actually get my wife to sit down and play games with me for a couple hours. For something just for me probably Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s or SSBB

Mine is Super Smash Brother Brawl and Halo 3

With the dissapointments FFXI and FFXII have been, I don't have much hope for FFXIII

1. Dead or Alive: Code Cronus 2. Project Progressive 3. StarCraft 2 4. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers 5. Metroid Prime 3 Corruption 6. Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Got a few on my list, let's see... or think: Mario Galaxy Harvest Moon WII (will release next month in Japan, so only a month waiting) Dragon Quest Swords Dragon Quest IX Professor Layton and the demon's box (love part 1!) Treasure Island Z Zelda Phantom Hourglass (next month as well, oh boy!) Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle (DS + WII) Health Pack ....etc.etc.etc.... But the most anticipated game.... hmm... oh darn too difficult, it's DQIX, Mario Galaxy or Zelda and I love them all! Well the first one to release Zelda then, and then ask me again in July :D

There's no arguing it was one hell of a popular game but quite honestly the lack of side quests in this one severely cut-off replay value (there were sidequest but only a handful and half were pseudo-manditory). The liscence boards (free range leveling up system) max out on average about past half way through the game and make having unique classes moot not very far into the game at all, not that classes are terribly needed given the battle system. It was a stark constrast to the sphere grid in FFX which lasted well into overplay and was customizable. The story, while good, was trite and nothing terribly unique, the characters, were mediocre, and almost every element that made the world of FFTA appealing was played down or castrated altogether in this game. While the gambit play style was inovative, it ultimately became boring and tedious, like cruise control for game play, you could literally just sit there with the controller in one hand with a thumb on the analog stick and win fight after fight after fight... Lack of sufficient A.I. also hindered the gambit play style making the simplest of chores frustrating as you were often left waiting for a party member to stop buffing themselves, stop attacking monsters on their own, stop standing over there for no reason preventing your party from moving, etc. The game screams monotony and nothing in particular about it draws you in, most the time it was just a chore to play. It also had perhaps the smallest amount of unique monster models of any FF game, nothing but repaints or mock ups one after another, looking through the bestiary in the player's guide is just depressing.

Yea, I admit I don't like how FF games have become much more linear and more about the cut-scenes and the girls. FFIV was freakan hard, there were dozens of diverse characters, and there were so many things to do at once. I watched my friend play FFX and it was like -cut scene, your character flirts with the hot anime girl -walk through a dungeon "maze" that is actually as linear as a hallway -enter battle -win it by just hitting the same button 4 times -cut scene with a 2nd hot chick, flirt until 1st hot chick shows up and your guy blushes -fight boss, win it by doing 3 summons in a row and not even having one of your guys die once -cut scene with women again etc

For me, it'd just have to be Metroid Prime 3. There's so many choices this year that it's a lot tougher to narrow it down to one game, but i think Retro is going to hit this one out of the park. Others worth looking into are obviously SSB and to me Assassin's Creed.