Perhaps 2008 should be in quotation marks.  It seems these days that expected release dates are about as reliable as the Weekly World News.  Massive delays have plagued the majority of titles on this list, and in all likelihood, not all of them will be released in ’08.  Hell, there may be a couple that won’t see the light of day until 2010!  Still, after the stellar 2007 that gamers just experienced, expectations are high for this year’s crop of high-profile titles, and I thought it high time to list the biggest drool-inducers slated for the upcoming year.  Here they are.

10 – Civilization: Revolution
The newest iteration in what may be the PC’s most addictive franchise promises 16 civilizations, streamlined gameplay and a new focus on online modes.  Besides, series creator Will Wright has stated that "This is the game I've always wanted to make."  Works for me.


9 – Ninja Gaiden II
After 4 years and two updates, Tecmo is finally ready to release a proper sequel to their 2004 ninja action classic.  Early reports indicate that the story of NG2 will take place before the events of the original, and will follow the exploits of a young Ryu Hayabusa through Japan, Europe and the US.  Expect new weapons, gorgeous visuals, lightning fast action and gallons of blood.


8 – Resident Evil 5
After the insanely intense experience that was Resident Evil 4, gamers were sure that Capcom could do no wrong when it came to their classic horror series.  Then Umbrella Chronicles came out.  Meh. RE5 is shaping up to be more like 4 than UC, but the mediocre taste of Chronicles is still fresh in the mouths of a lot of gamers.  Hopefully, they won’t be disappointed.


7 – Ghostbusters

For gamers of a certain age, this is one of the holy grails of video games.  30 year olds have been waiting to unleash their proton packs on unsuspecting poltergeists since the days of a less-than-obese Dan Aykroyd, and it looks like Sierra Games will finally be giving us the chance.  And yes, we will be fighting the marshmallow man.


6 – Final Fantasy XIII
Active battle system?  Check.  Summoning massive creatures?  Oh yeah.  Chocobos?  Oh, hell yeah.  An androgynous male protagonist in a belly shirt?  For once, no!  Seriously?  Where’s the Cloud/Tidus clone?  Are we sure this is a Final Fantasy game?!?  Anyway, while we haven’t seen a whole lot of details yet on the newest entry in gaming’s most prolific series, Square Enix has enough experience with massive, cinematic rpg’s to earn our trust. 

5 – Super Smash Bros: Brawl
When it comes to Smash Bros, half of the fun is in the waiting.  Speculation over new characters, stages, assist trophies and minigames can be found all over the internetrowebs.  Everybody has their favorite Nintendo character that hasn’t been included yet, and most of us are sure that this year is the year that Stanley the Bugman or Von Kaiser get the respect due them.  Well, maybe not everyone.  Maybe just me.  Regardless, SSS:B should be the most exciting thing coming to the Wii this year.


4 – Metal Gear Solid 4
Oh, Hideo Kojima.  I ever know what the hell you’re talking about.  Then again, I rarely care what your baffling stories are trying to tell me, because I’m way too busy enjoying the gameplay of the MGS series.  Sure, the franchise is chock full of WTF moments and overly bizarre characters, but it also boasts some of the best stealth action and production values out there.  Ad did you see those robot-animal hybrid mech things?  Creepy and awesome.


3 – Spore
Will Wright’s second entry on this list is a life simulator that takes a species from single-celled organism to space faring imperial power.  Given the extremely long gestation period this game has experienced, Will may be testing that system on the game itself.  It’s slated to arrive this year, but then again, it was slated for last year, too.  We can only wait and see.


2 – Star Wars: Force Unleashed
Lucasarts promises that for the first time, you’ll feel the true power of the Force in this game.  Forget about Force-throwing stormtroopers into a wall; now you can throw them THROUGH the wall.  Screw that, throw a TIE fighter into them.  That’ll teach ‘em.  The Euphoria engine should make Force Unleashed capable of delivering unparalleled artificial intelligence and extremely realistic physics.  Ass-kicking Jedi powers in a hyper-real setting sounds foolproof. 


1 – Grand Theft Auto IV
The biggest dog in the yard.  Rockstar could have made the box art a big “IV”, and everyone would know exactly what it was.  Returning to a redesigned Liberty City, the GTA franchise entrusts its future this time to eastern European immigrant Niko Bellic, a small time thug chasing the American Dream, no matter how blood-soaked the path might be.  They’ve done away with the shoddy targeting system and the way-too-easy carjacking, opting for an entirely new game engine based on the stellar, but untested Table Tennis engine.  As always, the trailers are doing a fine job getting gamers hyped for this big release, and I am one of them.  Allegedly coming in January, wait for this one to arrive sometime around July.  Or August.  Or 2008.  Or whatever.


Will this list include the year’s finest piece of software, or will some unknown sneak up and make them all look like amateurs?  Maybe one of the games that just missed this list (Haze, Halo Wars, Too Human, LittleBigPlanet, Fable 2) will reign supreme in ’08.  Who knows.  That’s why we follow this stuff.  We’ve got 12 months to figure it out, so gamers, warm up your thumbs now.  It should be one hell of a ride.