Play it Forward: Video Games Predictions 2007

Games to Watch

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
Seven million subscribers can't be wrong. World of Warcraft's unstoppable growth is set to get a boost in just a couple of weeks, as its first expansion is released. Burning Crusade adds a whole new continent, raises the level cap to 70, includes two new character races, a new profession, flying mounts, and lots more. Clear your diaries, already.

Bioshock
Developed by Ken Levine, famous for System Shock 2 and Thief, thriller-shooter Bioshock features a groundbreaking AI "ecology" -- a system where computer-controlled creatures can cooperate or fight to achieve their individual goals -- and a tense storyline set in a 1940s underwater city.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
After Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter proved one of the most popular multiplayer 360 games of the year, expectations are high for its sequel. This time, it's coming to the PS3 as well, and bringing a new dynamic weather system and new squad selection options along for the ride.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Age of Conan

Mass Effect
Bioware's role-playing game credentials are beyond dispute, so we're expecting great things from Mass Effect. Like Bioware's previous critically acclaimed RPG Knights of the Old Republic, it has a sci-fi theme, but also features new, more action-oriented combat, and an overhauled, fluid conversation system.

Halo 3
Due out in late 2007, we're expecting Halo 3 to set the Xbox 360 on fire all over again. Some lucky folks won't have to wait that long to play it, though -- in the spring, a public beta test of the game will let a select few take the game's multiplayer for an online spin.

Assassin's Creed
From the team behind Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed will be tearing up the PS3 and 360 in early 2007. Creed's plot is still under wraps, but early info reveals tantalizing hints of a complex time travel tale set amid the Third Crusade in 12th century Jerusalem. Complex combat and an innovative crowd system -- where you can hide even when surrounded by people -- make this one to watch.