For me, this was the only game that is just calling out to me, for sure this year. Mind you, that I'm also looking to the future with Jumpgate Evolution, and possibly Black Prophecy (Though I'm wary of their backing company).

Beyond those games, I figure my mods, for this will be a bigger direction for my personal outlooks for games. Because in truth, the only other game that sounds even interesting is Civilization 5. And since this game is a much better Fantasy Civ game, I'll be quite happy.

Why is everyone including Elemental, when it's coming out this year?

Next year:

Star Wars: The Old Republic
Guild Wars 2
Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution
Diablo 3 (if it is next year)

Victoria 2.  I sincerely hope they take the time to optimize it so it is at least playable upon release though, unlike HOI3.

The thing about Tera is that while it looks fantastic, it's going to be one of those ultra-grindy Korean style MMOs.  I'm not particularly enthused.

I would buy SC2, Diablo 3, and Civ5, but that online registration crap is a dealbreaker for me, no matter how good the game is.

HOI3 is running pretty smooth with the semper fi expansion...

you might want to revisit it..

anyway- Im looking forwar to diablo3

and Battle of Britain ww2 flight sim- from IC the makers of the best ww2 flight sim so far

IL-2 Sturmovik (1946) covers 1937-1946 hundreds of planes and theatres... etc etc..

Off the top of my head:

Fallout: NW

Age of Decadence

ZRPG

Elemental

One of the upcoming UFO clones/new version of existing ones.

Blood Bowl: LE

BB:LE is probably my "most anticipated" pick, but that's because all the jobs, husbands, wives & children my BB playmates and I can't seem to stop accumulating, increasingly gets in the way of playing the board game.

Oh yeah, and SMAC2. I'm really looking forward to that one. And I'm just as confident it'll come out this year as I have been the past several. I mean, it's been so long since SMAX and it is just too damn good not to get a sequel, right?

In the meantime, you may want to check out the "planetfall" mod for Civ 4:BtS, over on Civfanatics.  It should help tide you over.

Well, you'd have to get all the expansion packs.  Civ 4 in my opinion was a bit of a bust until Beyond the Sword came out.  That plus a massive amount of moddability (the glory of Python) really made the game great.  If you liked Civ 2, Civ 4 is a truly great game for you.  Planetfall really does have the "feel" of Alpha Centauri (that almost undescribable attribute that was why I loved SMAC).  It isn't quite finished yet (the two alien factions aren't in yet, and polish is needed), but they seem to come out with a minimum of one update a month for it.  Other good mods for Civ 4 are Fall From Heaven (once again, almost a different game in and of itself), and one of the many mods that Revolutions is included in (the Mod, not the console port of Civ 4).  Revolutions makes civil wars, rebellions and colonial wars possible in a way that makes sense (once you get used to the system... it is much harder than vanilla) and greatly add to the game.

Vanilla Civ 4 with expansions has limited replayability.  But there are so many great mods out there for the game, I would strongly recommend you take another look at it.

Elemental: War of Magic totally trumps my must get list!

Civ5 was HUGE for me until steam (and 2k) completely killed it.

Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 interest me, but I'd wait for the complete editions in the coming years.

With Chess and Poker aside, one 4x TBS game + a multitude of mods, generally takes care of my gaming impulses.  For the most part, I am a one title gamer.  EWoM is poised to gain that slot.  I appreciate and respect Stardocks way of doing business.  I very much admire their openess and acessability.  I am driven to support them.  I wish other companies shared some of Stardocks philosophies.  Empower the Independants of the world, for they are free to create content for the beauty of it; whereas creativity under the corporate thumb, has been enslaved by sales restraints.   Long Live Stardock!  In support, and becuase I like the software, I'll finally be buying GalCiv2, as well as Object Desktop.

Diablo 3

Elemental

Starcraft 2

Shogun 2 TW

Old Republic, if it is free from grind

Portal 2

Civ 5

Crysis 2

Deus Ex 3: HR

Close to this order too.

I won't buy Fallout NW because it just looks like a franchise exploit to me.

Thanks, lwarmonger. But Raaargh! Stardock you damn tease: "Sorry, this product is not available in your region".

Does anyone know if Impulse can filter out US-only stuff? - Trust me, trying to buy stuff you can't is way, waaay more annoying than it sounds.

@ Bilskis & Annatar11: it's a bit funny you guys call it a franchise exploit when FO3 tossed the gameplay of the originals in its entirety, while FO:NW will be mostly true to the gameplay of FO3. Still, I do get your objection.

But the fact some of the games that are pretty universally considered "best" (Baldur's Gate 2 & PlaneScape: Torment, for example), do the exact same thing. If you guys loved FO3 and would consider it a plus if you could replay it with new and less-feeble storytelling, you're probably doing yourselves a disservice.

I mean the they look identical. It is like an expansion that doesn't add gameplay. It's not the engine I demand it is a new game when I buy a new game. I don't want Fallout 3 but more. Fallout 3 was great, I loved oblivion and Fallout 3 was like a revision of Oblivion with plenty of good parts from the Fallout world. (I think of Fallout 3 more of a successor of Oblivion than of Fallout 2.) Fallout 3 has the same engine and the same underlying visuals as oblivion (except the trees have been nuked). While Fallout NV is Fallout 3, in both feeling, visuals and mechanics. NV is more of a mod and less of an AAA game for full price. I mean, mods change more things than NV does.

I have played Diablo 2, Torchlight, Titan's quest, and most other ARPGs, even though they play the same they look and feel different, they are new games.