Wanda and the colossus. The spiritual successor to ICO.

I demand a dark, puzzle-based 3D game that has lots (i.e. > 2) of solutions for each puzzle to avoid frustration.

Plz. 

Shambler's list is pretty much what I have been looking forward to -- I'll add 1) Bioshock, and 2) whatever Crytek is hiding up their sleeve for E3 presentation, plus, 3) dare I say it? Duke Nuke'm Forevah. 

� Carmack will shock the world when he announces his realization that sequels to remakes of sequels is inherently dumb. He will appologize for his creative bankruptcy.

� Microsoft will release Age of Tycoons to much fanfare.

� Counter Strike will suddenly become unpopular when a clan of flaming homosexuals wins the summer CS:S tournament.

� Nintendo will release Super Mario Biathlon, which despite sounding silly will still be fun because Nintendo rocks like that.

� Redfella will spontaneously combust in rage when someone comments on his next screenshot. 

Carmack makes engines, not games pushplay. His is not to design but to code. and his code and engines are very creative in their own way.

All I see in 2005 is X-men Legends 2 selling millions of copies due to my influence, assuring my domination of the world, after which Zwiffle becomes the first up against the wall.

Oh, and maybe I'll finish some of the maps I started... but maybe I should make that a 2006 resolution. 

it HAS to be good. If it's shit, surely 3DRealms will go under. I have some faith left - remember how cool DN3D was? Don't answer if you don't, or didn't like DN3D.

WipeOut Pure for PSP gets a vote from me too... as does Mercury. 

OMGLOLBBQWTFROFLMAOKTHXDIERMSLBOOM!

Yeah, right. 

What I'd like to see:

Quake 4 to do what it says.

Stalker to do what is says AND to have a smooth running and nice feeling engine (where it's predecessor Venom or whatever it was kinda fell down).

DOW Mission pack.

D3 MP to be good.

And...

More games with a dark fantasy atmosphere. More games with a proper hardcore sci-fi atmosphere. Games that marry those two styles with modern technology and immersion, and feature things that make you go "woah, fuck" (like Stalkers in HL2 did).

More RPGish gameplay. Or more tactical gameplay but not in a gay RL / WW2 style. More open ended stuff where you feel you're choosing how to play. More interesting AI. Games like Thief3 and Deus Ex2 that HAVEN'T been XBolloxed.

I have a feeling, apart from possibly Q4, I might be disappointed in most of those aspects. But no worries for that, there'll still be good games. I would like to see more dark fantasy style though. 

Stuff that is currently causing explosions in my boxors:

STALKER - Just love the atmosphere of this game, and it truly is trying to push boundaries. Big respect to GSC Gameworld for that. I just hope it plays as good as it looks/feels/innovates...

FEAR - Looks fun, although the slowmo thing is a little cliche'd these days, its still fun. Not sure how the 1st person melee fighting will work out, graphics nice etc... Looks like another pant splatter too so hopefully it will work.
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Stuff that is currently causing undecided tremours in my boxors:

QUAKE 4 - screenshots look totally generic thus far, apart from that cool heart room pic that someone else mentioned. Sounds like it will end up like a hybrid between doom3 and halo, which I geuss could work quite well if Raven pull it off.

PARIAH - Some screenshots look very very nice, and others look totally wank while yet others look wank and consoley. Apart from the developers spending time crafting some intricate characters and story, it looks totally generic, and upgrade units for weapons seems to be the "cool feature" of the game, how original...

DUKE4EVER - If its released, oh loller who am I kidding...
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Stuff that is currently causing implosions in my boxors:

any EA games licenced title. 

I'm hot for nu-skool remakes of old-skool games if they capture the style and atmosphere of the original but combine it with new technology and sophistication. 

Any other game that creates a really good game set in any of Games Workshops settings....I will not only play it with glee but have sex with it afterwards too.

I really should have tried to remember all these before posting. 

What I'd really like to see in most newer games isn't hyper-leaps in technology or story per se, but instead a really good effort put into unique, interesting and original styles. I mean this not only as in the physical look of the game, but the gameplay itself.

Doom 3, while pretty, isn't anything new or exciting visually. Standard demon, skeleton, zombie. Standard shotgun, machine gun, rocket launcher. HL2 had some interesting visuals weapon/enemy-wise, like said-Strider, or the combine weapon that shot that huge ball of evaporating energy.

If someone could come out with something besides "let's make a base level, then an urban level, then an otherwordly level, then another base level..." and just make something UNIQUE then I think I might be happy.

I'm tired of the same shit. I don't care how advanced the graphics are, if the graphical superiority of the engine isn't being utilized to create something worthwhile then why the hell would you spend all that time and effort on the engine in the first place?

Don't get me wrong, HL2/D3 wowed me graphically, but they're both very standard, non-innovative games graphically & creatively. Seriously, is it too hard to come up with a setting in some sort of dream world, where you have to fight inside and outside of huge mechanical golem war-machines? Or have some weapons we HAVEN'T seen before that aren't super gimmicky (Grav gun I'm looking at you.)

For example, McGee's Alice was incredible imo. Creative weapons/settings. Superb in that department. The enemies were awesome too. The Jabberwocky was frickin' cool. Excellent design.

Painkiller may be that way, I dunno cuz I haven't played it. The demo didn't seem all that great to me.

So yeah, 2005: The year of creativity. Plz. PLZ. 

2005 will be the year of rotten franchise and games for casuals! otherwise the industry will die! industry need money from the games for casuals!!!
fuck creativity! give us TITS! 

sorry off topic.. but the gravity gun is NOT a gimmick weapon! Its presence is woven into the entire game ffs! And it opens up entirely new gameplay possibilities with regards to puzzles and interactivity. Gimmick weapons do not do this! :) 

It's a gimmick to show off the physics engine :( It makes the game seem "uber cool" because of all the "interactivity" the weapon "has."

Example: "Woah dud3z0r! I can totally rip this toilet off the wall and shoot it at people! Then it acts LIKE A REAL TOILET WOULD ACT! No way this could be a gimmick!!"
=\ 

@ Vondur

Well said. 

Gaming in 2005 will suck cause there won't be any old style 2D games to play, cause now even portable consoles can do stupid 3D... =\ 

I have high hopes for advance wars DS being 2d 

Fat Controller finally finishes his library map and progs pack for Arcane, then quits Quake mapping for good, saying something about Morrowind and a writing career.

Oblivion will be released. As well as an advanced graphics engine (i.e. hidden face culling at long last, doubled mean time between crashes) it will feature a number of adjustments to thieving and magic that don't go far enough to satisfy the International Oblivion Wish List twerps who were howling for some sort of first person Sims game. Mods take twice as long to develop due to the strange mixture of Java and Prolog used as a scripting language causing would-be modders' heads to explode like in that "Scanners" movie. Quality of humanity increases slightly.

Fat Controller finally gets a decent video card. Writing career is put on hold as he can now play Morrowind at a respectable frame rate. This is subsequently followed by his beating the game again, this time without cheating. 

Crackwhores in Q4, and three-tittied whores in the Martian bars in the next part of D3. And big fat, CZG's mom-types that can't say anything but "TWO WEEKS".

And oh yeah, Fear and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.(...)look bad ass. 

For the moment the games i expect the most are,
"Quake4" and "Doom3 Expansion Pack", probably, they won't surprise me negatively.

Any expansion for Sacred... no please it'd destroy definitively my dying social life ;). 

Definitely better tech, some aspects of it look great. Still too bright and cartoony. People still too big for houses. Setting/theme is entirely unappealing to me. Roll on Age Of Something Fantasy Or Sci-Fi. 

You're wrong. :) 

phase in the mid 90's. Something about the games always made feel like a lab rat getting a pellet fix.

Though Syndicate was a lot of fun. 

Prove it, big boy! 

Half-Life' is the best