The Sleeper Year of 2009

Forget 2007 and 2008.

As my first official contribution to our brand spankin' new website, I thought I'd kick things off by making a perhaps bold (but what I believe should be somewhat obvious) prediction that 2009 will end up being a sleeper year, becoming the greatest year in gaming since 1998.

There's been a lot of talk by many various outlets about how 2007 and 2008 were some of the best years in gaming history. While I won't argue against the many great games that came out in each of those years, most of the major hits that came out during those times were sequels to major series that were more refinements to existing formulas than true alterations to the series' expectations.

That being said, I've created a list of games that all have been pretty much confirmed for release in 2009. Each of these are titles that have shown real potential to bring something entirely new to the gaming medium, much like the famous titles from 1998 did. As such, any sequels and major titles that, based on early previews, appear to be more derivative and conservative in their execution, have been excluded (i.e. Killzone 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5, etc).

Heavy Rain
Mafia 2
Infamous
Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
God of War III
Beyond Good and Evil 2
Bionic Commando
Alan Wake

Note that the other obvious releases are not on this list, not because they won't probably end up being outstanding games, but because the games listed have the potential to break new ground with the medium if taken in the right directions.

Feel free to email me, and let me know what you think of this list. Did I miss any? Are any overrated?