I was quite aware of the pause feature. But unlike a similar feature in the Baldur's Gate, NWN, and KOTOR games, which allowed you to give strategic orders, the combat still remained twitch based and gamepad-centric (though I give Bioware credit for doing far more to adapt the game to the PC than most developers). I just don't like this type of combat and, frankly, I'm not very good at it. On the first planet I visited after leaving the Citadel (I think it was a side mission, but am not sure) I followed a long, narrow, and very linear path (did I say that I dislike Bioware's restricted environments?) until I came to a set piece at a camp in which I died almost immediately. I tried this several times with the same insta-death result and haven't played it again for some months. It's just a matter of taste and, although I realize I am in a minority of current gamers, those are mine. It's the same in MMOs--I can live without required and constant button mashing to use all the combat abilities they hand out now. I know that reviewrs love this stuff, but auto attack was always fine for this old EQ paladin.

Infinity looks very good. I love the concept art. I've noticed that there are lots of MMOs coming out, and many of them have a space theme. However, WoW is not declining in popularity so I think that many upcoming MMOs will fail. Hearts of Iron III looks cool. Is it a TBS game? does it have real-time combat?

Interesting. However, I think that only one or two space MMOs will have very high popularity . I hope SW:TOR will do well. My reference to WoW was mainly about Warhammer Online.

Hearts of Iron III is like all Paradox strategy games (i.e., the Europa Universalis games, Rome, Victoria, the earlier HOI games) and, I believe, uses the current EUIII engine. Technically, it is not a TBS game since there are no turns per se and time moves on as you issue your commands and wait for the consequences to play out (you can vary the speed and all orders can be issued while the game is completely paused). Therefore, these games are sometimes described (even by Paradox marketing) as "real time" games, but they are in no way RTS games in the way that term is commonly understood. The games are at a strategic level, very deep and complex and have far more in common with TBS games than RTS games. Indeed, they have a very high learning curve and make TBS games like Civ IV or GalCivII look relatively simple in comparison. In reality, they are TBS games with a slightly different mechanic. Combat is technically in "real time" in that time moves on as the combat (which is in a complicated system of rounds) proceeds. Despite this, however, the combat is far more like Civilization than Total War. The player has no input or effect on combat once it commences.

Games I'm salivating over and planning on getting (so long as they don't utterly suck): 

1.) Elemental

2.) War in the Pacific: Admirals Edition

3.) King Arthur

Games that -- while I'm not committed to getting yet -- definitely intrigue me:

1.) HoI 3

2.) Aphelion: Phoenix Rising

3.) Empires of Steel

Obviously, I have not played HOI III yet, but I expect it to play much like other Paradox games. Although details differ a bit between the games because of different historical eras, in a very general way, combat in thes games play out as follows: combat is in various rounds in which the two sides may alternate between attack and defense or fire and shock (melee). Casualties are taken each round and a unit retreats if its morale breaks. Everything is stat based and combat is influenced by factors such as the stats of the individual units involved, number of troops, terrain, tech level, the stats of the general or admiral (if any) commanding the army or navy. In addition, some randomness is thrown in via a die roll each round. Time passes during combat at the same variable rate set for the game as a whole and the game proceeds as the combat plays out; multiple combats can take place simulataneously in different provinces. The combat ends when all the troops/ships of one side are entirely destroyed (this rarely happens except in very lopsided battles) or (much more often) the morale of all the units on one side breaks and that army retreats. You can choose to watch the combat results play out in a window which shows a basic diagram of the units involved, various stats for each round as modified by the die roll, and casualties taken. The player has no input into the battle as it takes place. This works fine for me, since I dislike "twitch" games and am not a huge fan of traditional RTS games (though I like Sins). But if you are looking solely for Total War type battles, these are not the games for you. (I actually like the Total War games, though they are held in contempt by a sizable minority of posters on the Paradox boards, but I tend to autoresolve the battles far more often then I play them out.) if you have more questions on gameplay, I suggest asking on the Paradox boards--the community there is usually pretty friendly.

Waiting for:

Starcraft 2

Mass Effect 2

HL2: Episode 3

And of course the Sins expansions

And these are on the watch list, not assured buys though

Supreme Commander 2

Doom 4

None of these are exactly coming next week (except maybe the next Sins expansion ), so there's plenty of time to replay some old classic, starting with Ultimate Doom

I know that, but you seem to know what your talking about. Sounds interesting as I have not played many Paradox games before.

Now that you mentioned I heard that Blizzard was actually going to make another WoW expansion. This might not true though. If you mean that WoW is not as old and stale as SC then your right, but very few games last as long as it has.

To be succesful, an MMO can't have very high system requirements I've heard that SW:TOR will have reasonably low minimum system requirements so that will only help it sell well.

I'm concerned about Cybranzilla in SuCom 2. Its a bit cheesy. It could work though.

So i wasn't the only one! It isn't assured since i want to see what direction they are taking with it. If it's a remake of Doom 2, like Doom 3 was a remake of Doom, with bigger focus on fighting massive demon hordes, i'll be all over it

Starcraft 2 mainly for the story, and for the fact they are releasing the SP campaign as three different games. Such dedication for SP content, especially on RTS games, is becoming rare nowadays, and i for one applaud them for it

Apart from expansions, the full games I am looking forward to are:

Elemental

Starcraft II

Mass Effect 2 if the PC port is good

All of their new ideas are used for Biowares other IPs like Mass Effect.  Star Wars is a very set franchise, so it has to follow certain criteria.  If you start changing it too much it becomes a totally new IP.  Sooo... I'm just hoping they are original in the gameplay and what not...

Is Beyond the Red Line even being developed still? I checked up on it a few months ago and all they had was an incomplete demo and it didn't look like it was being worked on.