Brendon Lindsey, Staff Writer

I included Uncharted 2 since it's supposed to be TBA 2009. I WANTED to have God of War 3, but since that's even less likely in 2009 I held off...

1. Uncharted 2 -- Its release is still TBA 2009, but as long as there's hope of it releasing this year Uncharted 2 has to top my list. The first game remains the best game on the PS3—and yes, I've played Killzone 2. Nathan Drake is this gen's most unheralded protagonist, and if Among Thieves is even remotely close to Drake's Fortune in terms of quality, it's going to be one hell of a ride.

2. Dawn of War 2 -- I didn't expect to love Dawn of War, since I had never even heard of Warhammer until I saw it. But from the minute I first loaded up that early multiplayer beta and forced some friends to do so as well, I had a new favorite RTS series and the first one since Warcraft III that I actually enjoyed. DoW2's co-op alone is going to make this one of the greatest RTS titles in years.

3. inFamous -- How can more people not be looking forward to this? GTA with superpowers? And developed by Sucker Punch Productions? Sure, we don't know a whole lot about the story. But we do know that the game is a sandbox, you can destroy or save the city, and you'll have superpowers. Isn't that more than enough to make it awesome? Just look at Crackdown; now throw in real superpowers.

4. MLB 09: The Show -- At least Todd has some sense. As a sports gamer, Bill, I'm disappointed in you. The MLB franchise is the only one left that seems to be genuinely moving forward year after year. MLB 08 was easily the best sports game of this generation, and 09 is going to continue that addictive tradition of full-blown virtual baseball.

5.Dragon Age -- I remember sitting in Bioware's hotel room at last year's E3, watching their Dragon Age demonstration, and thinking to myself, “Where is everyone?” It seems like everyone is out there talking about the Halos and Killzones of the world—but you all forgot how awesome Bioware's glory days on the PC were. The spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, and it has an incredible combat engine and graphics? How can people with a PC not be more excited?

Todd: "At least Todd has some sense.” Believe it or not that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.

William: "I didn't expect to love Dawn of War, since I had never even heard of Warhammer until I saw it." You, too, are dead to me. And yeah, MLB 09 easily makes my top...6 or 7. The thing is, it's hard for me to get crazy over any sports game anymore. The Show IS the exception, but I am currently suffering from sports game burnout to a degree. Truth be told if MLB 09 fixes the doubles issue I'll be happy. It may also have to do with the Reds sucking every year.

OK I am redoing my list.

I am now going with Dragon Age, Blood Bowl, Empire Total War, Dawn of War II, and a three way tie between Diablo, The Beatles, and MLB 09 The Show. No one else is allowed to do this. My rules. I make 'em up.

And Todd has no sense, common or otherwise.

Brandon: I'm changing my list too, because I'm awesome, and the rules don't apply to awesome people. My list is now:

1. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

2. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

3. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

4. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

5. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

I mean, sure there are other games that I want to play but this is the one that I'm anticipating the most. Hell, I got this job in part because of a review of Puzzle Quest that I submitted with my application letter. I remember it like it was yesterday. Bill called me into his office and greeted me from behind his desk.

"Kid," he said "you obviously don't know anything about games, or grammar, or punctuation. Hell, you can't even string two coherent thoughts together. But do you know what you do have?"

"What sir?"

"Moxie! You got moxie kid, and moxie goes a long way in this business. I'm taking you under my wing, and when I'm done with you, you're gonna be the best newsie this town has ever seen!"

That night I took my girl to the five and dime for root beer floats to celebrate, and then we went to the Bijou to see some talkies. A lot of things have changed since then, but the awesomeness of Puzzle Quest ain't one of them.

Brendon, in Crackdown, I took out a gang lieutenant's entire entourage by throwing said lieutenants corpse at their car so hard that the car blew up upon impact. If those aren't real super powers, well, I don't know what comics you've been reading.

Tony: Heck, at the very least you can’t say roundhouse kicking a speeding semi on the freeway head on and making it come to a full stop as the driver dies from the violent impact isn’t a superpower straight out of Dark Horse. “Agent, you aren’t supposed to harm civilians!” Whoops. Guess you’ll have to send someone to stop me. Someone other than those squad of ragdolls that arrive in your pithy police cars. Man, in retrospect I was pretty much a complete ass in Crackdown. Especially to my co-op partner

Brian: All I ever ended up doing in Crackdown was scaling buildings and seeing how far out I could jump, usually cracking my skull through the pavement in the process. Now that I think about, the same went for GTA, Spider-man, Oblivion, and last week I spent ten minutes unsuccessfully trying to jump from the Washington Monument in Fallout 3. I seem to have suicidal tendencies in open-world games.

William: Dragon Age just got pushed til "late" 2009. So that still technically counts. Waiting for the Diablo and StarCraft announcements in 5...4...3...

Brandon: Quick! Publish the piece before the dates change!

William: Sims 3 delayed til June. ..and somewhere Troy Goodfellow sobs uncontrollably.

Troy: You have no idea... It will be nonstop Empire from March to June.

Brandon: Troy sacks Russia in a fit of Sim fueled fury.

Troy: All the while, I will speak Simlish to my generals. Shoom shoom!

Brendon: On the bright side, Troy, you still have SimAnimals to keep you busy.

Troy: I so want that.

Brian Rowe, Staff Writer

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- I've read the infinite praises and commendations for COD4, but there was so much more than multiplayer. COD4 went beyond the glorified machismo of military shooters and gave us an intelligent plot and characters that we could genuinely care for. For crying out loud, I almost shed a tear for Captain Price (I swear I'm not as wussy as you think). Then came World At War - another showpiece for why Treyarch shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the Call Of Duty series. No developer makes shooters with the finesse of Infinity Ward.

2. Diablo 3 -- I have so many memories of quietly sneaking into the computer room so that I could pull all-nighters to perfect my Sorcerer and his wicked Flamewall. I still love dungeon-crawling hack-n-slashers, but no one can do it quite like Blizzard. Sorry... Activision Blizzard. I have complete faith in a great game, but we'll have to wait and see how they handle the inevitable hackers, which were the sole reason that I quit playing so many years ago.

3. BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams -- BioShock was a phenomenally mind-blowing game, until the big twist. After that, I felt like I was following breadcrumbs and going through the paces to the two endings, which were hopelessly disappointing. If 2K Boston can't captive me through one entire game, can it be done with a sequel? Can't we simply leave well enough alone? Still, I'm hopelessly intrigued and a believer in Levine.

4. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 - Fusion -- A sucker for hack-n-slashers, and an even bigger sucker for beat-em- ups. I played the first Ultimate Alliance four times over, and if I weren't so sick of the Atlantis level, I'd probably do it again. Ultimate Alliance had an awesome capacity for customization, so I can't wait to play with the new roster and team-ups. I only hope we can get some downloadable levels this time around.

5. Red Faction: Guerilla -- Am I the only one who remembers how great the first two games were? Let's not forget revolutionary, or at least potentially revolutionary if people had paid attention. We know that Volition can do shooters and open-world games, that they have a knack for solid storytelling, and that blowing holes in the wall with Geo-mod rocks @$$. Please, someone else get excited with me!