Most Wanted 2009. Worms 2 Armageddon or GTFO
 

Most people are probably still recovering from the Q4 flood of 2008 and all the games they got over Christmas and in the holiday sales, but it's 2009 and so time to start getting excited for the future. I've already read a few comments saying that 2009 could be a bit dry on the gaming front (including one from Skills' favourite Peter Molyneux), but I'm always ready for a nice surprise.

Even so, there's already a couple of games I'm excited about or looking forward to. Street Fighter IV is an obvious starting point, and Uncharted 2 I'm quite excited about. I also have my fingers crossed that we see the English version of Professor Layton 2 this year.

So how about everyone else, what are you looking forward to in '09? What do you hope gets a release, or are you most excited about arriving, do tell.


To help you out, here are some random titles that come to mind that will apparently see the light of day in 2009: APB, Bioshock 2, FEAR 2, God of War III, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Wars, H.A.W.X., Heavy Rain, Killzone 2, MadWorld, Resident Evil 5, Skate 2 and others.

I just got a Wii for Christmas, mostly for the wife and kids, but I'm looking forward to Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop. By looking at the screenshots over at GameFAQs, it looks pretty damn wicked. Some people might say it's a Resident Evil clone... Hell whatever, I don't care.

Also, it would be nice to see a stateside release of Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen (a.k.a. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse) for the Wii. I have the jap version, but it would be nice to understand the story and what's going on.

Huxley (PC, 360) - Other than some occasional TF2 once in a while I rarely play a FPS that has anything more than just some shootan, killan, and a mediocre story that somewhat keeps the mind in check. After seeing a trailer on South Korea's MBC game channel for this title it had me interested, granted it was pre-rendered CG but the visual style and (upon later researching) the class system in this MMOFPS makes it seem worthwhile (especially for the 360 exclusive singleplayer campaign).

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360) - Not much I can say which hasn't already been said by every fanboi on the internet but this is such a franchise that doesn't go without something unique in just about every title.

Starcraft II (PC) - Putting aside Blizzard's strategy in releasing different campaigns at various times for the three specific races the real focus will be if the multiplayer can stand up to it's legendary predecessor, not to mention the balance system should be well worked at the time of launch (or updated, hell, Brood War is still being updated even to this day). The alleged re-vamp of battle.net is expected to come with this release, I'll hope it's not something too different and something along the lines of Steam.

Halo Wars (360) - Going into a RTS from a FPS is quite a turn for a loved franchise however handled by Ensemble who knows the genre quite well I have full faith that this wont be a complete waste of time, even though the RTS genre rarely touches consoles as it is and given that Halo is considered a party game it's rather difficult to have two players trying to face each other when the screen is visible to both players.

beatmaniaIIDX 16: Empress (CS) (PS2) - The CS IIDX releases over the years have improved over time but never disappointing to say the least that it mirrors their arcade counterparts with the usual added songs and a few other extras that get added in. It's still the same clackan and scratchan on the same seven keys and turntable but the influx of original music time and time keeps myself coming back (sparingly, as for this wont be out until November/ December).

I said what are you looking forward to being released in 2009, not 2019.

Capcom Lord: Dead Rising may have Capcom and zombies, but it's nothing like Resident Evil. It is, however, an awesome game and if they've done a good job with the port to the Wii it should be worth a look.

Oh, I'm not complaining at all. I'm just going by what other people have said and told me. :p It does look pretty sweet though and I do plan on picking it up when it is released. ;)

I forgot to give MadWorld a mention, for the Wii the processing power just isn't there to render hi-def graphics which in return can deliver a visual style is unique and over the top, lets just hope the controls (given no motion sensor support, for the best) are unique as the visuals.

Good thing I didn't mention Diablo 3.

I'm stoked for Madworld, Resident Evil 5 and Heavy Rain (even though my owning of a PS3 is unlikely). Madworld, for the reasons stated above, Heavy Rain cause i loved Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy), and RE5 cause i'm such a fanboy. I am, however, a little worried about RE5, as it looks less and less like what RE is supposed to be about with every game that's released. The most recent trailer i've seen has it going the rout of the epic blockbuster action movie, complete with love story. I would say RE4 is about as far down the action game road as you can get before you start losing what RE is all about.

What i'm most excited about, however, is announcements. I'd really like to hear about some up coming titles, possibly coming out when i'm not completely broke. I'm basically holding out for another Zelda announcement, wondering if Nintendo will follow up on their statement regarding Zelda becoming a series "more like Waverace".

well I've got quite a few pre-orders for the 2009 season.

1.) Street Fighter IV (PS3/360): I've never been one for fighting games but with how beautiful this game looks it was rekindled my interest into fighting game genre once again. I just can't wait to sit down and play it. Here's hoping GFF will probably have a couple of tournaments or something along those lines. I'll do horribly but at least it'll be a good bit of fun.

2.) Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP): I already own the original game for the PS, but there is something great about this game that I'm willing to get it for the PSP. To be honest I haven't even played the game but my wife on the other hand has beaten it and I've watched her play it from time to time. I guess you can't really call yourself a hardcore rpg gamer until you attempt to beat two of the hardest jrpg bosses of all time.

3.) Ar Tonelico II (PS2): I haven't played the first one. I know its probably your standard generic JRPG but I think the series involves dating female characters and since I had so much fun playing thousand arms, I'm sure this will probably be a fun little jrpg

There are a few others games I'm interested in getting mainly for the DS that are coming out this year and those games are:

1.) Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
2.) Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
3.) Suikoden Tierkreis (I'm not entirely sure if this is going to be released in North America in 2009, but I would assume so)

Yeah I'm an rpg gamer.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest - To be blunt it's Star Wars Battlefront, but Lord of the Rings. So some changes to make melee a much bigger part of the game.

Sega Ultimate Genesis Collection - It'll save me money on VC/XBLA games and I can skip previous collections.

That's sadly all I care about this year. For money reasons and because I just have too many games piled up I haven't even started playing yet.

Fuck yes Bioshock 2.

I kind of hope H.A.W.X. works out, it'd be nice to see AC actually get some decent competition for once, and it'd give us an another flight game to play online.

I'm on the out with forthcoming video game news so I can only profess to being interested in two things:

1.) Forthcoming Indiana Jones Game
2.) DLC for Left 4 Dead

The one issue I see with H.A.W.X. as far as you and Skills are concerned is I'm pretty sure I saw a dev diary type thing where they were saying that they've made it use a fixed external camera.

Also, LeHah: that forthcoming Indiana Jones game has been forthcoming for about 4 years or so no, I wouldn't be holding my breath for a 2009 release. But then again, you never know.

I have it on very good authority its still in the chute, despite Lucasarts cuts.

Skate 2: This drops in like a week and a half so I don't have a lot of time to kill haha. I fucking LOVED Skate, the first skateboarding game since THPS2 that I've sank so much time in. I literally played it all of 07 and a quarter of 06 haha.

Street Fighter IV: I was EXTREMELY skeptical when this was first announced. I'm completely sold at this point. So much so, I have the $150 TE arcade stick on pre-ordered =O. You fools better get it for 360.

Bionic Commando: I loved BCR way more than I expected to. Like, WAY more. In GRIN I trust. I'm willing to take the $60 risk on this one.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: "It is better to die for the Emperor than to live for yourself."

Yeah that's kind of shit. I don't mind it just being external since I never really used the internal function in AC unless I was doing a tunnel run or some such, but fixed? Sounds like full throttle gayness.

Then again you never know until you try it.

I'll probably be more excited for titles as I get more info for some of them. At the moment I'm warming to Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV and perhaps MadWorld. Another game that's coming out very soon is Star Ocean: Second Evolution for the PSP which is, yeah, an enhanced remake but its always been one of my favorite games so I'm getting that.

I haven't really been excited about a Skating games since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, but I'll check out the Skate 2 demo and go from there. I also noticed when looking for a list of upcoming games that Phantasy Star Portable is supposed to come out this year, which has garnered my interest. Other titles like Halo Wars or HAWX and Skate 2 as I mentioned above, I'd have to play a Demo first to get a real idea of "Will I get this" or not. Bionic Commando I had no idea was coming out this year, seemed like they announced it and then... nothing, but if it IS coming out this year then I'd like to get that too if I can.

I really hope the new professor Layton game comes out here - totally psyched for more puzzling.

Also looking forward to the new Fire Emblem game for DS.

Only one game registers on my radar:

Punch Out! Wii - I'm a fan of the old NES and SNES games and have been eagerly awaiting another entry in the series. The Wii should provide an experience that's unlike the former games but still remain true to the learn-the-pattern-and-counter strategy. It'll be cool to see the veteran boxers like King Hippo, Dragon Chan and Mister Sandman again, as well as maybe some new fighters. Honestly, I hope it has some better depth, maybe a larger roster of opponents or more variety in the punches. So far it looks like a promising title.

Do you even hear yourself talk? Seriously. There is no local multi for any console RTS for such obvious reasons. There won't be there either. Uh...duh?

Moreover, I was more scared about H.A.W.X.'s ENHANCED REALITY SYSTEM or whatever the fuck they called it. At first, no one ever said anything about being able to turn that shit off, and the whole idea of it locking you in on a target and giving you all those stupid lanes and gates to follow to intercept stuff is kinda annoying. It also apparently has anti-crash and anti-stall bullshit so it's somehow holds your hand the ENTIRE FUCKING WAY, which is bullshit.

Luckily it looks like all that shit can be ditched, so maybe the thing is salvageable after all. There's also, luckily, a 1st person option. At least according to a Gamespy interview from this past year's E3. Let's hope that wasn't scrapped, because if it forces you outside or to use that god forsaken long-distance camera that shows both you and the target, I'll be ragin'. Hell, that's practically a deal breaker. There's a lot that looks wrong with it right off the bat thanks to these retarded features but here's hoping, since I'm really interested in that real world geography stuff they're doing with all that satellite imagery. That's a really awesome idea. Unfortunately, Ubisoft Romania has proven that they like to make shitballs flyers like Blazing Angels so my confidence ain't too high here.

For myself, Toku nailed two of the four.

Bionic Commando, only because GRIN nailed Rearmed so well, and because man that swinging mechanic looks both deliciously difficult and superbly AWESOME to do in the environments they've shown. I hope it's as fun as it looks hard, it'd be nice to play something challenging again.

Street Fighter 4 is looking awesome, for obvious reasons. Still unsure of what I'm getting the stick for, triple or circle, but only because I'm concerned where else I'll be able to easily use it.

OutRun Online Arcade: I already came fourteen times at the announcement. I don't care if it's a port of C2C or not, that's still awesome. Especially since the max they'd charge for it is 15 dollars. Magical Sound Shower here we come.

IL-2: Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is apparently able to be as simmish (or close to) as the older PC series entry, and I had no idea this was even coming until recently. Shows how much attention I pay, huh. But hell yeah, this could be the exact opposite of HAWX's bullshit in the worst case scenario, so here's hoping it lives up to it's name.

Not many people are talking about this one, but I'm actually looking forward to Resistance: Retribution. I'm currently playing through Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror on the PSP, and out of all the games and demos I've played on the system so far it's hands down the best. R:R is being developed by the same people (Sony Bend) who made the PSP SF games, so undoubtedly I'm excited for a game that plays similarly but is in a franchise I actually like (I was never a fan of SF back in the PS1 days, and if it wasn't for the demo I probably wouldn't be playing this one). I'm also intrigued by the functionality it's supposed to have with R2, including this new 'PSP Plus' feature (it does kinda sound like it defeats the purpose of the game being on a handheld, but it'll still be interesting to try out nonetheless).

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, and FFXIII are probably the only games I am looking forward to at this point, since Splinter Cell: Conviction seems to be on hold.

Maybe Star Ocean 4, but I skipped out on the third, and I am backlogged on RPGs on the 360, so I probably wouldn't play it right away anyway.

You'd actually benefit from not playing SO3. The lack of knowledge of it's plot makes everything that happens in SO4 not totally irrelevant.

I'm the only one who thinks Street Fighter looks terrible...meh.

Uhh:

Resident Evil 5
Dragon Quest 9 (if they ever get around to it)
MadWorld
God of War

That's pretty much it. I reserved a few others, but its looking pretty meh.

Where are people getting this idea that FFXIII is going to see a release this year. In Japland maybe (maybe), but not in the rest of the world. If it does see an English release in '09, well I'll eat my hat. I mean what's next, people listing Gran Turismo 5?

Lukage: Get out of here, SFIV looks fantastic, why lie.

My most wanted right now is Ar Tonelico II and thankfully I only have a few more weeks to wait.

The only other announced game I'm looking forward to this year is Starcraft II though I won't be surprised when this gets delayed into 2010.

Sadly nothing announced for the new consoles in 2009 has been very interesting to me. Hopefully we'll get some early year announcements and that will change. I hear a Valkyria Chronicles followup isn't out of the realm of possibility.

I'm only really looking forward to Heavy Rain, it's one of the few games that doesn't look like the same old boring trash... BUT IN HD. Also kind of interested in White Knight Chronicles and L.A. Noire, though the latter probably won't come out in 2009.

You forgot about this (shitty) port.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

I haven't really been super excited about anything that's coming. I try not to let myself get that way if only because it often leads to disappointment. Prototype looks pretty neat though.

Q4 08 was so filled with goodness, that I'm not yet really ready for a new anticipation phase.

I am however looking forward to Resident Evil 5.
But as of yet, no hype has really caught my attention this year...
Of course I'm looking forward to Bioshock 2, Deus Ex 3 and some other stuff, but on the one hand, I'm not sure that these will even see the light of the day this year, and on the other, if solid info surfaces THAT they actually do, then I will probably go into apeshit-insane "MUST HAVE!!11" mode.
Maybe when I've finished playing last year's pile of stuff...

Are you talking about the DLC that will allow you to play the otherside of the campaign (as the Empire)? Because I've not heard anything that implies we should be be even remotely expecting a sequel. I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised on that front, but I highly doubt it.

Not true. The HAWX website has a load of stuff where they say you can play from in the cockpit but there's a special camera you can activate that follows missiles homing in on you and targets and stuff. You also get big arrows telling you when to turn to avoid the missiles when using that camera.

The plane manouvers much better when you're not using that camera and the arrows so you balance better flyability and needing someone to tell you how to dodge missiles, via a button switching between the two modes. They wanted a realistic experience that isn't too sim-my to be fun so it's mainly realistic with some flying aids for AC players.

At least that's what the Q & A page said about three weeks ago when I last checked it, they might have dropped it since then but I'd be fucking amazed if they had. I'm totally going to pre-order HAWX, I've been longing for a less arcadey flyer for the longest time. Blazing Angels was fun enough but fixed external camera and infinite bullets/rockets meant it was basically an arcade game.

Apart from that, I'm hoping Too Human 2 (Or at least some DLC for the first) comes along soon and that FFXIII is as good as XII was.

Oh yeah, and a new Rainbow Six game please.

I don't have a PS3 yet, but I'm really looking forward to RE5 and FFXIII. What can I say, I'm a fanboy.

Also, if ever they get to port Professor Layton 2 & 3 to english, that would really rock my 2009.

2008 spoiled me like crazy. The Wii and 360 games I owned pretty much doubled in that time, so thankfully 2009 doesn't have as many games coming out that I want and I can play catch up.

I'm definitely getting Sonic and the Black Knight (big surprise, right?) for the Wii, because I'm hoping it'll turn out better than Secret Rings and I hope this will be better than the disappointment of Unleashed.

There's also Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, PS3, PC) which is currently scheduled for a Q2 2009 release, but we all know that can change very quickly. It definitely looks badass and a little scary.

Other than that, I think I'm just hoping this year that I get to hear some release dates for the new Kingdom Hearts games and Punch-Out!!

Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon comes out in Japan in a few weeks. I'll call it a good year if we can even get it announced for an English translation. Some more info about Beyond Good & Evil 2 would be nice.

Other than that there's a few games coming out that I'm looking forward to like Ar Tonelico 2 and White Knight Chronicles (Nevermind, just saw some gameplay videos), but nothing has my foaming at the mouth in anticipation at the moment.

Edit: Oh yeah, Star Ocean 4, too. I'm a sucker for decent real time battle systems.

Resident Evil 5 - Want to see how this turns up. Haven't played the demo so hoping this will at least follow what made 4 great (hopefully).

Star Ocean: Second Departure - Owned the first game and loved it.

Resistance: Retribution - Want to see how this scales up. Liked the first one and the second one as well (hooray Resistance 2 co-op!)

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 - Warhammer 40K that plays Company of Heroes style? In. so. bad.

Valkyrie Profile DS (Don't know what name they call it) - Want to see how this turns out.

Star Ocean 4 - Not shaking in anticipation cuz lololol could end up like the third, but interesting enough to see how the game pans out.

Prototype - Also want to see how this turns out as well. Large environment and lots to smash with? Not exactly a cup of tea to others, but just good ol' mindless fun.

inFAMOUS - Reason I bought a Blu-raystation 3 in the first place. Looks fun.

Patapon 2 - FUCK YOU SONY RELEASE THIS SHIT THIS YEAR ARGH.

Not many games I want this year, so here's my list:

Star Ocean II It's not at the top of my list, but one of my online friends swear by this game, so I want to know what the fuss is about. I depised SOIII though so I am a litttle worried that SOII will be a disappointment.

Sims 3 I wasn't interested in this at first, but the more news I read about it, the more I want to play it. It has some new features that are really cool.

RE5 If it's anything like RE4, I want it. I don't have a PS3, but there's a rumour it's coming to PC as well which would be sweet if it had online co-op. The problem is, I heard the PC RE4 port was half-assed, so I fear the same thing will happen again.

L4D DLC Thought I should just toss this in here.

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Freelance: The difference between the first two games and the third are fairly large and really the only thing tying them together is the game's title and common shared stuff (Like how each Final Fantasy game has Airships and Chocobos, for example). You could have changed the name of Star Ocean 3 to "Star Trek Parody" and it wouldn't have made much difference.

A much better comparison would be Star Ocean 1's PSP version, because THAT is what you should be looking at to expect from #2. For the record, its a title I'm almost certainly gonna get.
Also, gonna come back with a proper response to the thread, but thought I should mention at least one game I'm looking forward to in this post.

Based on how far along the game looks at this point, I don't think it's unlikely that Diablo III will come out this year. This is far and away the number one most anticipated game that's currently "in development" for me.

I went through the MMO kick and played WoW for too long. But life has caught up with me and I can't afford to devote my life to a game like WoW that requires so much of my time. Diablo's formula matches what I want and can provide to a game. I love constantly upgrading my characters with new gear. I love the social aspect of playing online with other friends and being in a guild. WoW is the best at that formula, right now...but it requires a ton of time investment to get much of a payoff. Diablo is much more playable in small spurts while still managing to provide advancement and accomplishment.

And I'm a total whore for basically anything Blizzard makes, because they're the best game developer in the world. So I'm ready for SC2 too.

One I've been scrounging around for any tibits on is Borderlands. I just hope it actually comes out this year like they claim it will.

Dont follow gaming anymore so i dont really look forward to anything special, But

gta4 dlc looks cool and maybe even some Assassins creed 2?

and year after year i keep waiting for an announcement for Shenmue 3

That's coming out in about a month I thought? I'm sure the release date is February, I don't see how it's such a complex game it'll slip ten months this late in the day.

Good shit. To be fair, my memory was harking back to a video I saw some time ago and it may have been that they were just talking about the 3rd person chase cameras and so I assumed it wouldn't have a first-person camera. Makes sense they've added one though, cheers for the info.

I am kind of interested in HAWX, but it's one I'm waiting to see more of until I decide whether I'm properly interested or not.

You're not wrong. It's down as 13th Feb release for the UK, so this might be another game we get before the yanks. The last rumours I saw for the US were 'early 2009', hinting at a Feb release there too.

Surprisingly, talking to Skills last night about the early 2009 releases and looking over GAME's upcoming release list, there's actually quite a lot down for the first three months that I'd be tempted to purchase (something like 10 games).

One thing I'm definitely adding to my 'probably going to pre-order' list is Killzone 2. Yeah, I said it.

Well any Septics wanting to play Patapon 2 could always import a UK copy. See how they like paying international shipping charges for a change. :)

God of War III, Killzone 2, Street Fighter IV.

I'm a fan of the GoW series, Street Fighter I used to play. A lot. I haven't played the first Killzone, but from what I've seen and heard, this is a must-buy.

I'm probably most interested in Gyakuten Kenji (or fandubbed Miles Edgedworth: Perfect Prosecutor). It seems somewhat unlikely that it'll get an English release within the same year, but I can always hope.

The release could be 2010 but some news at least of Half-Life 2 Episode 3 would be more than welcome this year.

Just got an email - the nextgen Indiana Jones has been offically canned. :(

I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not. Though amusingly, I swear I saw some news either today or a few days ago from LucasArts saying they were commited to a next-gen Indy game. Oops.

The plan was to start with a small unit of programmers and then shift people from the Force Unleashed team when that game was finished. Crystal Skull stuff sold badly (because people are dumbasses) and Lucasarts decided to take less of a chance and put more people on TFU2, which requires far less in way of manpower and preproduction.

(Lucas also killed Battlefront and the Lego line a few weeks back. That just leaves Force Unleashed 2 and the KoTOR online game in development, AFAIK.)

Given the Indy game could quite easily avoid the issue a lot of people seemed to cite with Crystal Skull (old Indy) I really don't see why it was all that risky. I can see why companies might be rather wary in the current financial climate, but honestly.

I don't think Indy's age was the problem with the movie (frankly, there was no discerning problem with the movie - it was one of the biggest films of 2008 by a pretty wide margin, and the people who argued against it were the lowest form of life possible - internet reviewers) but the fact that the surrounding material sold very badly. Stuff like board games and Halloween costumes and action figures didn't fly off the shelves; look at The Phantom Menace - the movie was ripped to shreds by everyone but the toys sold really well none-the-less.

This last game was slated to come out around the time of the film, but ended up getting dicked in much the same manner as the Superman Returns game.

No I agree, I'm one of the people who is with you in that I found it a rather enjoyable film and don't get what most people were complaining about. However, I did know a few people that had most issue with seeing an old Indy (not saying I did).

What I meant though, is the game could basically ignore Crystal Skull and be closer to the originals, which remain as popular as ever (Lego Indy being one of the biggest sellers of 2008 would seem to demonstrate that). Any which way, a shame as Indiana Jones would be a great basis for a good adventuring type game.

Demon's Souls and Ninja Blade are the only two games that I'm looking forward to this year and they're both on consoles that I don't own (yet)

Oh and maybe Sin and Punishment 2, as long as the music from the trailer wasn't the game's music.

The game that I'm most looking forward too this year is one that I've had a hard-on since it was announced: Brütal Legend. Ever since I played Grim Fandango I've been a huge fan of Tim Schafer and it's been almost 3 years since the release of Psychonauts and I've been jonesin' for a good dose of some of that amazing production that only Schafer can bring.

I'm also looking forward to Street Fighter IV like a lot of other people here because, well, I'm a sucker for the SF franchise even if I'm god awful at the games. Patapon 2 is another obvious choice for me because I'm still awfully addicted to the first one and it's really the only game on the PSP that I play. More of the same will be the kind of hit that an addict needs.

I'm looking forward to both Street Fighter 4 and Tekken 6 and the best thing about Tekken is it's coming to 360 too so I don't have to choke down buying a PS3 to play it.

Sin & Punishment 2 should be worth a look as will Another Code R, both have European release dates listed for mid-year which is good. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat being re-released on Wii with extra levels will be fucking sex, even if they've completely ruined the gameplay by not adding bongo-support.

I still have my hopes up that Bioshock 2 will get a release this year; however, I do not want them to release the game until it is COMPLETELY done and without a single bit of rushing. I will wait five more years for this to be the case, if I have to.

Besides that, there is RE5 - two days from this post!
Heavy Rain
WET
Way of the Samurai 3 - hopefully to get a US release date announced soon RockBand: Beatles
FFXIII and FFXIII:Versus - either in 2009? I doubt it
Prototype
Tekken 6 - despite that it will be all too similar to the other games

With MGS4 and Fallout 3 last year no matter what it's going to feel a little dry to me, but I'm trying not to compare but rather only feel excitement.

as far as the releases i'm aware of, the ones i'll probably have picked up by the end of the year are the following:

Pokemon Platinum

having a two carts makes starting over for fun much easier.

Patapon 2

i didn't get around to playing the first one, but it looked impressive.

Rhythm Heaven

i had been considering picking up a copy of the Japanese release, but since it's slated to hit the US...

Phantasy Star Zero

my friends are all planning on getting this. it'll be a good way of keeping in touch since we no longer all live in the same state.

Beatmania IIDX 16 Empress

i can't explain very well why i'm so fond of Beatmania (or rhythm games in general for that matter), but i too, shall be waiting for this release. DJ Troopers had a pretty unique song selection, and i'm hearing better things about Empress already.

on a slight tangent: i really haven't been paying attention to release dates much, but it doesn't seem like there are many amazing games that get released in the middle of the year. i could understand companies trying to plan their big projects to wrap up at the beginning of 4Q, but do they really avoid summer intentionally?

Popping back in after recent announcements, pretty much all relating to Atlus.

Class of Heroes looks incredibly awesome, since I loved Etrian Odyssey 1 and 2. It's basically the same thing, only with a high school theme thrown on it. 4/7, shit's gonna rock.

Knights in the Nightmare is getting a US release in June and I'm psyched as hell about that, too. I'm about 3/4ths through the Japanese version since it's as linear as it gets, but the combat is probably the most unique mashup of genres I've played in an RPG... ever. It's also a good sign that I'm not tired of the battle voices considering it's the same four people voicing the whole game.

Endless Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga is another game I dabbled in the moonspeak version but hit a wall in. Being annoyingly stubborn about FAQs, I just left it. Now I'll be able to go through the whole game.

7th Dragon: Etrian Odyssey 3; the next step in what's looking like a History of RPGs series. From first person dungeon crawling to party-following and more plot-centered. Also an optional chiptune soundtrack hell yes. Hoping this will be announced for localization sometime soon.

Well... being 2.5 months into 2009 already, some of the titles mostly anticipated have already been released (aka, Resident Evil 5 (not that I picked it up, because I didn't), Killzone 2, Star Ocean 4, HAWX, SFIV, etc.). So, really, what is there left for me to say I'm looking forward to? Let's see:

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 - The first one was nice, but definitely lacked in official stories. With all the other Gundam shows besides 0079 (original), Zeta, and ZZ, they chose only those 3, with only 6 official characters.

Ah, well, least this time they're adding some more characters from more shows like Seed and 00, least I think they're doing so. Fuck it, it'd DW, and I'm sold.

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - I wasn't too big on the changes they made for DW6, and the missions sometimes seemed a little longer. However, the Empires series has always made things better, considering you can pick your own Generals and simply conquer the lands without all these stupid objectives like "Rescue so-and-so", "Make sure ??? doesn't die", "Kill or Take in # min", etc.

Beatmania IIDX 16 Empress CS - Since I started playing in 2005, I've picked up every CS release from 8th Style to DJ Troopers... except I missed the chance to get 9th Style.

Anyway, like others said. It's the same thing, but new songs, and as far as I'm concerned, new awesome songs. Pink theme or not, I'm picking this shit up.

Halo 3 ODST - Simple. I know I'm getting it, and I know 3 or 4 of my local cousins are getting it. Co-op Legendary mayhem, more achievements, and probably... when we'll see the other 3 fucking Mythic Maps from Halo 3, where I can finish off the new achievements and then retire from the fucking game.

Tekken 6 - It's been a year since I saw the game at Showdown. It looked pretty damn sick. Only real reason I would buy this is because I've started playing some Tekken thanks to Dark Resurrection. 2D fighters are more my thing, but this'll still be fun.Should

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus - I know all my fighter friends will be nagging me to get this, despite the fact that SFIV is out, plus, it's a lotta fun... more fun than CvS2, KoF, or even TvC.

Should be enough to hold me over for the rest of the year.