We all know everyone here will be picking up both Diablo III and Starcraft II the second they hit store shelves, but what about the other games you're looking forward to?

Mine is Fallout 3. It's a post apocalyptic RPG set in Washington DC. It's being made by Bethesda, the same folks who made Morrowind and Oblivion. I'm pretty much stoked. It's going to be a wide open, wrecked, Washington DC. The experience sounds more like Morrowinds but with Oblivion graphics which makes me really excited, (Morrowind had better atmosphere and cities in my opinion. It just came alive more). Anyways I'm stoked.

One can see a boat-load of info here.

http://pc.ign.com/objects/568/568806.html

Spore,
It looks amazing.

Maby a new FPS for XBox that is as good as call of duty and can be played by multiple people on the same Xbox

Spore does look really unique and awesome. It seems kind of like an adventure game, an rpg, and a simulation all rolled into one. I'm not sure If I'll buy it but it looks prety revolutionary.

I just found out that fallout 3 is only for xbox and ps3.
IT looks cool and is banned in aussieland.

Fallout 3 is PC too.

Also Empire: Total War looks awesome. It's the next total war game due out late this year, and it looks pretty much amazing. It uses the usual Total War game play, which consists of a turn based strategic mode which is sort of like civilization but far more "war" oriented. The battles are all real time and as opposed to the dozens of units in games like starcraft or age empires you command numbers in the thousands. The new feature is the naval battles however. They are now real time where as in the past they just resolved instantly. I'm pretty stoked as it seems your crew can board their ships and fight hand to hand with the other crew.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/empire-total-war/

looks cool, i hope it comes out for xbox or the system reqs arnt too high for pc

Spore is the only non blizzard game that I am looking forward to. Hopefully it holds my interest for more than a few weeks.

So I bought Spore.... and after two hours I cannot wait to play more. I'm still in the second stage, but so far I think i've said "cool" or "hell yeah!" at least 30 times out loud. A couple of times, I've thought to myself "I'm getting my butt kicked, I need to evolve so that giant [adjective] shaped [noun] will stop eating me." Reviews say that the civ stages are pretty weak, and I am curious to see if they are right, or if they are just setting the bar a little high. Ed, are you still planning on getting it?

yea, i am but i would like to know what you think. Post back with what you think about the civ stages. the negative reviews of that have me concerned...

It really seems like they've packed a lot in a game. Projects of that scope are bound to leave some parts weaker. The fact that the civ stage is just a fraction of the game, but there are other games that wholly revolve around that means they are going to be held to that standard....but hey, as long as it's fun...who cares!

I read more about it, scott how is the fourth and fifth phases? have you gotten to space yet?

I've made it to the final stage. The space stage is, well, massive in scope. I haven't had a chance to really explore it and judge it yet. The tribal and civ stages are nothing compared to the cell and creature stages. The tribal stage is cute and charming and all, but the gameplay is obviously designed so that a non-gamer doesn't get overwhelmed. There is only one resource, and it is plentiful enough, on medium difficulty, that there was never really a question of resource management. Due to a bug in the game, the peaceful route to victory wasn't available, so war was the only option. The enemy AI is obviously not comparable to any true rts out there, so simple tactics like focus fire and rushes make the player almost unbeatable. By the end of the tribal stage, I was counting down the minutes to move on.

The Civ stage is a little better. It isn't at all like Civilization, and doesn't try to be. It is just a more advanced RTS. There is still only one resource, though it is not nearly as plentiful. I battled over the resource nodes quite frequently, and at times had to worry about resource management. There still isn't a lot of depth. There are 3 total military unit types (1 land, 1 sea, and 1 air), and 4-5 different buildings. I attempted to do something besides just crush the opposition with superior numbers, but the enemies were unwilling to ally because of my previous behavior in earlier stages. So I just smacked them in the face. I never felt like my victory was in doubt, but I did lose a few minor skirmishes. I will probably run through these stages again pretty soon to see if the non-military routes are more substantial or difficult. If strategy is all you are looking for, then stay away from Spore.

The major strength of the civilization stage is the building and vehicle designer. Swift would have an absolute blast building planes, trains, and automobiles. I personally have no interest in designing vehicles, so I just used some of the automatically downloaded ones. If creativity is your bag, then I imagine that it would be pretty satisfying to launch an assault on the evil maroon empire with your carefully crafted instruments of doom.

Overall, the cell and creature stages have been worth my price of admission, which was only $25 since I'm sharing my copy with John. I have a blast making creature after creature and running around eating fruit all day. Again, I have hardly touched the space segment, which is supposed to provide the most depth. If there is interest, I'll report back with my findings after I've experimented a little bit more.

nice little review. It pretty much makes sense. A game of such scope can't possible do everything well but it still sounds like a blast to play. Your post has given me inspiration though. What about making a thread that is basically a review when we get a new game and know others are interested. I'd rather read your opinion that IGN's. Plus...it could be kinda fun writing a review...

I'm game. I had a blast writing that up. I got halfway done before I had to go to class, and thinking about finishing it helped get me through my umpteenth iteration of the scientific method.

For the record, I'm now a couple hours into the space stage and it is pretty amazing. I'm still witholding my final judgement for a bit, but so far I like what I see.