I'm not a huge fan of Top 10 lists. Anyone can throw together a top 10 list and post it. It doesn't take much time or thought, so I'm going to be structuring this list a tad bit differently. Also, expect to see a Games of the  Year post coming. I still have 3 more games that might qualify for an award to play, Zelda Spirit Tracks, Mario and Luigi, and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. I hope to pick these up within the month so expect to see a post late-December, early-January.

Most Hopefully Optimistic Game :

I really want to be excited for this, I really do. I just don't know how I can trust a different team with such a well realized world. Heck, I don't even know if I want a BioShock Sequel from the same team. I'm not sure what they can add to the world. I'm still optimistic, though. The team working on it are saying all the right things and the fact that the multiplayer is being done by another team instead of wasting the single-player resources are at least very hopeful.

Most Exciting Gaming Platform:

Just as last year belonged to the Xbox 360 and this year the PS3, next year looks to be an amazing year to be a Wii owner. With games like Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Galazy 2, a possible new Zelda game and No More Heroes 2, I think my Wii is going to get more use than it has in a very long time. Nintendo looks like they may have even more great games to show off at E3.

Game with the most to live up to:

With Forza being so strong this year, as well as the game's super long development cycle, Gran Turismo 5 has a lot of pressure to perform. The game will sell, there's no doubt about that, but will it succeed to successfully compete with Forza from a features stand point. I don't think it can. We'll see, though. It's very possible that Polyphony might hit it out of the park. 

Most Anticipated Handheld Game:

Golden Sun is one of the most underrated RPG series of all time. I can't begin to describe my excitement when Nintendo announced the game back at E3. We still don't know too much about it, but given the series roots, I have no doubt that this will be a very high quality game.

Most exciting growing trend:

The iPhone became a major gaming platform just over the corse of this year and I don't expect this to slow down. Developers are really learning to take advantage of the platform's strengths and I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Game I didn't expect to be excited about:

This game came out swinging at this year's E3. With it's Lost-style narrative and interesting combat, I cant wait to actually get my hands on this. This game stole the show for me at las year's E3, and I really hope it can live up to that little slice.

Most Anticipated Announcement:

Persona 5. This game has to get announced next year. I really, really want this game to come out. I can't wait to see what Atlus can do with a next-gen platform. I know we won't actually get the game next year, but I really hope to at least start seeing media from it.

Game I'm currently most hyped for:

I'm not a huge Final Fantasy fan, but this game has me really, really pumped. It looks like the shot in the arm turn-based RPG battle systems need. After seeing Jeremy Perish's preview, and hearing that the battle system is very SMT-style but with a lot more action has me more excited right now than I've been for any other Final Fantasy game.

Honorable Mentions: 

Mass Effect 2, Halo: Reach, Dead Space 2

These 3 games are all exciting in their own way, but I either know too little about them, Halo: Reach, Dead Space 2, or I'm on media black-out to prevent spoilers, Mass Effect 2. I can't wait to see more of these, but they aren't on the top of my must-play list right now.