Greetings friends and foes,

So another year has arrived and with it comes a whole deal of arrivals,confirmed or unconfirmed and our varying expectations on them. As far as the gaming world is concerned, there have been many who have said that 2007 and 2008 have been two ofthe best years in gaming's history and in many ways they are probably right.

2007 had undoubtedly the single best holiday season line-up and every game delivered upto it's expectations. 2007 was also the year where the shooters particularly the First-Person Shooters ruled the roost.

2008 was a little more balanced year (albeit a little less grand year for some) than 2007. Each of the three home consoles did have their own share of good games although (IMO) Wii had a quiet year after April. The handhelds did a great job with both DS and PSP giving some of their best games out yet in 2008. PC had a milder year but then you couldn't blame them could you (more on that in a few weeks). But now that those two years are past it's time to look forward and see what can 2009 do?

I have laid down some predictions on what could possibly happen in 2009. A note. These predictions might sometimes be related to what I am hoping for as well.

Predictions in Gaming for the Year 2009

• I'll be straight with all of you from the first. I do NOT expect 2009 to be as great a year as 2007 or 2008 was for any platform. First is that despite every home console (360,PS3 and Wii) having their own share of interesting exclusives, many of them are a little too unreliable for me to be putting my money on them.

Examples? Ninja Blade. A downright Ninja Gaiden rip-off that is doing such a terrible job concealing it is ripping it off. Killzone 2. No matter how "potentially revolutionary" (a FPS with Gears like cover and peek system) it might look Guerilla Games has a bad reputation of drawing all the pre-release hype towards it's games and then horribly messing them up (like Killzone 1 and Shellshock: ' 67).

• Also I expect a Legend of Zelda game to be released this year. This has already been rumored by Nintendo and I don't think many Nintendo fans can be patient if they go through another year without a Nintendo "mascot" game coming out. This Zelda will be as usual popular (no doubts on that) and will most likely feature an experimentation by Nintendo since it's the second game in the series from this gen (remember Majora's Mask).
• There have been rumors of another Metal Gear Solid as well and I think there is a likely chance of this to happen as well. What will surprise me (and Kojima is known to surprise the gamers) is that the Metal Gear series might be going through a revamp and it's traditional "stealth" gameplay (awful shooting mechanics you mean? Yeah right!) will be replaced by a Gears of War-esque cover and shoot mechanics. Hmm....perhaps the Metal "Gear" will have some meaning,eh? :P
• Tecmo and Team Ninja will announce another game this year hopefully Dead or Alive 5 or the long time work-in-progress Project Progressive or even the "fan faithful" DOA : Code Chronos. How the quality of these games stands without Itagaki remains to be seen.
• I am quite confident that Alan Wake WILL be released this year (FINALLY!!),mostly in Q4 2009 and will be worth the wait,IMO. While doing so Remedy might drop a few hints on Max Payne 3 as well. :D
• BioWare may perhaps drop in a few details on the release date of Star Wars :The Old Republic as well as Mass Effect 2 (can't wait!). I say both will release next year.
• Square Enix will HOPEFULLY release an English demo of FFXIII on PSN and XBL this year as well as confirm it's release date as Summer 2010. I am hoping for aFFVI remake in 3D similar to what FFIV and Chrono Trigger (not exactly a remake but you get my idea ;) ) went through this year. Also, I have a feeling thatVersus XIII might become multi-plat either this year or next year. I just have the feeling. Don't hit me you PS3 people *runs and hides in Gears-$tyle ;)

My Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2009

10) Alpha Protocol (X360,PC,PS3)

Normally I don't like judging games on the basis of their trailers but well Alpha Protocol is an apparent exception. This game is being developed by Obsidian (made KotOR 2 and NWN 2) who are particularly known for their ridiculously buggy and glitchy games (read NWN 2). But despite this Obsidian is a good developer and Alpha Protocol looks promising. It's a Bourne-like spy-thriller with Mass Effect-esque interaction. COOLZ! :D

9) The Sims 3 (PC)

Alright I know Will Wright,the creator of the series isn't on works for this game but despite that I do believe that this mostly-wacky and absolutely lovable and hilarious virtual-life/strategy game oozes potential. With a little more seamlessness into neighborhood interaction, Sims 3 could become even more better.

8) Final Fantasy : Dissidia (PSP)

I think this is a dream come true for every Final Fantasy fan. Call it Super Final Fantasy Bros. :P

This is a Final Fantasy crossover featuring the protagonists and villains from all FFs I-XII and this combination is bound to ignite some heavy fan excitement (it already has!) and craze amongst it's fans. Squall versus Terra? Sephiroth versus Kefka? Every character beating the hell out of Cloud? This is a dream come true. :lol: :P

7) The Witcher : Rise of the White Wolf (X360,PS3)

It goes without saying that The Witcher on PC back in 2007 was one of the best and highly under-rated role-playing games of this generation. At times it even beat the likes of Oblivion. But what stopped the original Witcher from reaching glory were the dozens of glitches and bugs in it's programming. I've heard that the console versions will be glitch-less and bug-less (hopefully) and will feature new quests and an extended storyline (Wow!).

6) Street Fighter IV (X360,PS3,PC)

It's like welcoming back a long-lost war hero back to the battlefield. That's the feeling I am sure many old SF fans get upon seeing SFIV coming. It has very much retained it's combo-and defense-centric fighting which I love as well as it's good to see old characters retaining their famous move (Sonic Boom!! HELL YEAH!! :D ). And I TOTALLY dig to see Rose and Cammy back again. :D

Time for some Ryu-butt kicking. :P

5) BioShock 2/Halo 3 : ODST/ Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2

All these three biggie FPS tie at the same place for me mainly because I have played very little of their predecessors. In BioShock's case, I played the first for only 6 hours on PC. But it were enough to give me the taste of it's excellent shooter-RPG mechanics and it's awesome setting Rapture.

I haven't played a single Halo game yet (and I badly want to do so,more on that later) so I don't plan on playing ODST until I play the first three.

Well actually..I DID play CoD4. And it was an excellent FPS through and through. But the problem was that I only played the multiplayer through LAN so I never got a "proper" taste of the EXP points system of it's so-much-talked about multiplayer component. So,since this is going to be an Infinity Ward game set in modern day I might give this one a try.

4) Alan Wake (X360,PC)

Remedy's long-time work-in-progress game that is as mysterious as it's actual setting might be finally dropping at this year's end. It's a psychological action-thriller and one can expect Remedy to be at their story-telling best. Although it would be interesting to see what kind of game mechanics they introduce for this one.

3) Dragon Age : Origins (X360,PC,PS3)

BioWare's next RPG is going back into the old days of CRPGs. This game is being termed as the "spiritual successor" of Baldur's Gate II (one of the greatest role-playing game ever!!) is high on my expectations. I will definitely be getting this although the question remains whether for PC or for the 360. I am leaning more towards PC since it's interface is made for PC and playing a Baldur's Gate-esque game on consoles might be a little too awkward for me. :P

2) Resident Evil 5 (X360,PS3)

Well this is going to be on nearly everyone's list isn't it? So I needn't say much other than this game is looking set to be as popular and ground-breaking as RE4 was. Hopefully a little more creepy as well. ;)

1) Diablo III (PC)

By now you might have seen this coming. The click-fest and a hack-and-slash beast has finally returned after almost a decade. The world has changed and now it's throne is being taken by it's distant cousin,World of Warcraft.

Jokes aside, Diablo III was going to be my No.1 for 2009 from the moment it was announced. I mean I don't care how much Blizzard has changed about it's graphical design (it still looks fantastic,IMO) and it's good to see that Blizzard is intent on keeping the setting as maturely themed and dark as the original. I am expecting a whole lot of clicking ad nauseum in this one.

That's it for now.

C ya

Lightwarrior179

I doubt Diablo 3 gets out this year, same with Alan Wake. But they both look sweet regardless.

only one of those would make my list, but at least it's the one at the top of yours. Diablo III is easily one of my most anticipated, but i'd be quite surprised if they released it in 2009. by the looks of what we've already seen, Blizzard have a lot to do this year to make it live up to its mighty predecessors.

psychomode-- Diablo III does look considerably different in it's art style but still it seems to retain it's "dark" toned setting from it's gameplay vids.

Hell yeah dude, DIABLO III - hope it comes out this year, but I won't be surprised if doesn't, considering Blizzard's track record.

Gotta be honest, I had to skim through this blog pretty quick cause I have to go to sleep, but I'll give it a full read through later and give you my full thoughts when I do.