With 08 feeling disappointing compared to 07, I thought now would be a great time for an 09 Games thread. I'll update my list with things that I may have missed that interest me. Add your own, preferably with a breif description as to why youre excited.

CoD: Modern Warfare 2- 'Nuff said.
Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams- With Ken Levine moving on, lets hope that the 2K Marin(led by former 2K Boston devs) can do the sequel justice.
Half-Life 2: Episode 3- Valve is without a doubt, the dev with the best track record for quality. Also, finishing  the Episodes will hopefully free them up for HL3, or give them time to create even more addicting spin-offs like TF, CS, and Portal.
Rage & DOOM 4- This is make or break for id. Either they comeback in a big way, or they should sell-off the DOOM and Quake franchises to a competent developer.
Killzone 2- IMO, the first PS shooter that has any promise. Looks good, but GG doesnt have any real track record to judge the gameplay by except for Killzone 1 and a PSP Killzone.
Halo 3: ODST- A stand-alone expansion to Halo 3 centering on an ODST in an "open-world" setting where youre searching for the remains of your squad, or living members if they exist. You'll be playing flashbacks of desperate struggles of "normal" human ODST's as you find (remains, tags, something of that nature) while exploring an open environment looking for the items as the main character. Includes Halo 3 maps, actually has promise.
Mass Effect 2- Bioware is another dev with an amazing track record, and if Mass Effect 1 is any indication, this will "rox your sox". Unless youre a fag who didnt like the first one. You know who you are
Halo Wars- Built for consoles from the ground up, and in the capable hands of Ensemble, this could be the first truly great console RTS.
Splinter Cell: Conviction- Ubisoft was known last gen for near perfection in the action, stealth, and FPS genres. Then came this gen and games that were just good and not great came. Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell: Double Agent etc. Now, Ubi seems to be heading back in the right direction, with the Rainbow Six Vegas games being great tactical FPS's, PoP bringing artistic flair to a series that was slipping, and giving Conviction more time in the oven.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena- With a brand new campaign, an upgraded version of the original and a MP mode with some original modes (Butcher Bay riot, Pitch Black) as well as standard DM, TDM, and CTF, this could come out of no-where to place StarBreeze back on the top of relatively small and new devs to show massive talent. OXM has an exclusive preview with Hands-on impressions in the new issue that seem pretty impressed.
God of War 3- Possibly the last great exclusive Sony has left, you can bet they'll be pumping recources into this game. And with good reason. I & II were 2 of the best action/adventure games of last gen.
Batman: Arkham Asylum- Whats this? A Batman game that might not suck? Its promising so far, with the dark, twisted themes found in the Dark Knight comics. With impressive UE 3 visuals, Batmans rougues gallery being in full force, promising early environments and gameplay mechanics, this could be the comic based game we've always wanted. And not being rushed out to coincide with a movie cant hurt.

Other games that arent my taste but others should watch for:
ABP
FFXIII
RE5
Ghost Busters
Uncharted 2
Street Fighter IV
StarCraft 2
Mad World
Heavy Rain
Brutal Legend
Aliens: CM
Bayonetta


So, what are you all looking forward to that I didnt list? Im sure I missed some, particularly in genres Im not a huge fan of.

EDITS
Dev mix up, fixed. -Thanks Eddie
List of big games that Im not interested in but others may be, added.

hmm yeah but games like modern warfare 2 and mass effect 2 are not confirmed yet..

Silentbomber


hmm yeah but games like modern warfare 2 and mass effect 2 are not confirmed yet..

Yes, they are.

Mas Effect 2:
Confirmation by EA of existence
Confirmation of Bioware of 360/PC Exclusivity

Modern Warfare 2:
Confirmation by Activision Blizzard of Fall 09 release
Confirmation of release date and IW as dev

Google, motherfucker. Do you do it?

For me its opposit 08 was 1000 times better than 07.

the last 3 months of 08 were way better than all of 07

Vx Chemical


For me its opposit 08 was 1000 times better than 07.

the last 3 months of 08 were way better than all of 07

I was disappointed by a lot in 08. Gears 2, World at War, etc.

The only things I can say I thought were amazing are Fallout 3 and Castle Crashers.

"Google, motherfucker. Do you do it?"

jeez dude calm down, i didnt know about modern warfare 2 or mass effect 2.

08 had so many great games I haven't even played them all yet.  '09 looks like it will be average.

Silentbomber


"Google, motherfucker. Do you do it?"

jeez dude calm down, i didnt know about modern warfare 2 or mass effect 2.

I was calm, I was making a Samuel L Jackson joke. Sorry if you thought I was being a dick.

And what "great games" Loco? Yes, 08 had plenty of good games, but nothing that made me stop and say "I must play"

mgs4 and gta4 were rather important.

CoD: Modern Warfare 2- 'Nuff said.

We'll be looking at a sci-fi, or near future title. CoD: Future Warfare perhaps...

modern warfare 2 and mass effect 2 are not confirmed yet..

Activision is looking to release the next Call of Duty next Fall. They're implementing the (rather horrid) leapfrog business model, and part of that business model means not letting your deadlines slip. IW have never been ones to overshoot their target window by much either, which I suppose is comforting.

Mass Effect could theoretically slip into the Holiday 2009 sales window... but I doubt it. I'm taking an educated guess at an early 2010 slate, to which I am also expecting massive delays. It took them months to hammer out framerate and streaming issues on the original, and even then, it wasn't properly optimized by launch.

Half-Life 2: Episode 3- Valve is without a doubt, the dev with the best track record for quality. Also, finishing  the Episodes will hopefully free them up for HL3, or give them time to create even more addicting spin-offs like TF, CS, and Portal.

It'll be fun, but the engine is slipping. Roll on HL3!

Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams

Excellent pick. Maybe they'll fix the accelleration for the PC version to shut Loco up.

Oh,and 2K Marin's the codehouse. Not Boston. ;)  We can't leave the Aussies hanging in the breeze now can we?

Rage & DOOM 4

Both will be technical showcase pieces. Doom 4 will undoubtedly be a 2010 game, even if they have it slated for '09, and if it's your thing, it'll be your thing. That's always how DOOM has been.

Rage, on the other hand, I'm seriously concerned with.

The game is being produced by Id, with a Teen rating. This is disconcerting enough. Apart from that, it's (customizable) driving centric, which has traditionally left gamers wanting more no matter who the developer is. Lastly, and most importantly, it's worth looking at the platforms. The game is being developed for fucking everything. PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, OSX... hell, they're even looking to play this thing on Linux. if it's any good, it'll be on PC, and that will be undermined by rampant piracy anyhow.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Splinter Cell 5 is a really tough call for me, because my outlook on the title is going to depend solely on which direction they take it in. Despite some very alluring screenshots, the game looked like shit in the last alpha footage we saw, before dropping off the map entirely. They'd taken everything I'd loved about Splinter Cell, turned it on it's ass, and had a vocal fanbase up in arms, and I think they realized that.

If I'm to get excited about Splinter Cell 5, it'll be because Ubi Montreal has taken it back to the drawing board, and will be bringing us the Sam Fisher we all know and love. I'll be willing to wait past 2009 if they promise not to fuck it up.

But anyway...

Along with all these, If I were you I'd watch for Bayonetta, Mad World, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, StarCraft 2, Dawn of War II [2009, yeah?], ABP, Aliens:CM, DiRT 2 and with any luck, Brutal Legend!

Astonishingly, nobody has mentioned Street Fighter IV.

Street Fighter IV.

Let's throw White Knight Chronicles in there to keep the closet otakus (me) happy.

I thought they should be on Street Fighter 102 by now.  Do people even still have organised fights in the streets these days?  I suppose its a testament to the timeless gameplay Capcom created that it has lasted this long, especially with a main character called Kenneth.

Its wierd imagining how, just like our grandparents talk about the wars, we'll be telling our grandchildren about Mario, Street Fighter, Mickey Mouse and the Pink Panther.  And they'll be like, wtf is Mickey Mouse, sounds so old and lame. :P

Anyway, tangent over, for me its about Alan Wake and Heavy Rain.  I suppose a main character called Alan shouldn't really work either.

Dan you also forgot to mention Ghostbusters..... But nice list, Bioshock 2, Halo ODST and Halo Wars are the 3 main titles for me.

Resident Evil 5, Uncharted 2 (which will more than likely be 09), Dissidia, nuff said. Hopefully FFXIII makes into 09 and if they announce Yakuza 3 and Kenzan for America and that Capcom will make a RE2 remake, my year would be pretty much set.

As far as 08, I thought it was a better year than 07. 07 was pretty much just Uncharted for me. This year brought MGS4, PoP, Yakuza 2 (yes I know its 06, but Japan only!), Crisis Core and more. Granted, there were many great-a-game I am not mentioning (Modern Warfare in 07 and Fallout in 08 to name a few) but I am just talking about my own personal preference. 

alijay034


Dan you also forgot to mention Ghostbusters..... But nice list, Bioshock 2, Halo ODST and Halo Wars are the 3 main titles for me.

I didnt include it because I havent seen enough from it to be interested, but if the property can be revitalized that would be great. I loved the movies when I was younger.

Wow.  The year of sequels.  Yay?

...There's sequels coming out every year Joe. That's how they work.

Like Chimura said, and I agree.

Resident Evil 5 and FFXIII are games i am definitely looking forward to.

Killzone 2 and Bioshock 2 are also on the list.

Thanks for the correction, Eddie. Marin is being led by former 2K Boston devs is where I made that mistake.

And the rumors are that they dropped the new direction for SC5, as it was too AC. Plus Ubi Montreal is about as good a dev as you can find to work on a near-future military type game.

As for FFXIII and RE5; by all means feel free to write something positive about them yourself. I detest turn-based RPG's and Japanese games' storylines in general. And I am in no way interested in RE5 after learning they kept the shitty 'no moving while you fire' controls.

That looks worse than 2008

Out of the list I'm looking forward to Bioshock 2, Mass Effect, and FFXIII