Enemy Territory:Quake Wars
The quake part may sound repulsive, but the game is said to be very tactical, with emphasis on teamplay, and will look like this: (modified Doom3 engine)
http://www.etqw.at/images/quakewars/...review_006.jpg
http://www.splashdamage.com/images/image_01.jpg
It's a multiplayer-only PC-only game. The people who are developing it have a great record of making really playable games: Quake 3 Fortress mod, Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory (not just free - remarkable for it's innovative features and unprecedensed level of teamplay), and now this. One last thing: games based on ID Software's engines are known for their multiplatform support.
Neverwinter Nights 2
Very nice rpg game. One of biggest advantages is that multiplayer is geared towards small amount of players (parties; no massive thingy) and has support for Game Masters. That and very good modding tools. There are many player-made modules made for Nwn1 already and they are said to work in nwn2, too. The way multiplayer is made is (nwn1) the reason why it's still one of most popular multiplayer games.
NWN1 has been known as pretty much only real commercial RPG game for linux. Unfortunately, so far only DirectX9 version of Nwn2 is confirmed. While publisher and developer (forum moderators) say there's a possibility of linux and mac ports (they were very popular for NWN1), and there's a biig petition for nwn2 multiplatform support, we can never be sure.
DROD:TCB (Deadly Rooms Of Death: The City Beneath)
3.0 version of DROD, arguably the best puzzle game ever created. Drod 2.0 already has cult-like following and lots of high quality usermade levels.
DROD 2.0 (JTRH) is available for Linux, Mac, Windows, and apparently FreeBSD, too. Other than official level set and extra graphics, demo has full functionality, including ability to fool around with level editor.
http://caravelgames.com
Prey (2006)
Another game on Doom3 engine. It's being made by Human Head - people who made Rune (kicks ***). It it doesn't ring any bells for you, they're also the people that made Heretic/Hexen serries and left Raven Software around release of Soldier of Fortune2.
Prey will be a story-centered action game, and there are some really crazy things going on. See for yourself (gameplay video):
http://www.prey.com/movies-view.html
It will be mostly a single player game.
What's more, if Prey is at least moderately successful profit-wise, Human Head people will get funding for Rune2. And B0rsuk really loved the original Rune ! Not to mention it worked on Linux, too.
I'd rather stay away from Witcher. It's based on serries of polish fantasy novels. They're very popular here in Poland, but the movie is a disaster.
My observations about The Witcher (game):
- uses new Aurora engine, the one Neverwinter Nights will use
- will be most probably single player only game. Not only that, but it looks to me like just another hack&slash game with fancy graphics. (at least graphics are quite realistic, even if models are somewhat lacking). Dialogue found on some of screenshots only strenghten the impresion. You meet a king's concubine and can choose from 2 dialogue options:
- where's the king
- time to die.
It may seem unpatriotic of me, but Poland has very few successful games which become known outside the country. Last such a game in several years (!) is Painkiller. I hope it makes it clear that CD Projekt (I think they're the developers) are not known for successful releases.
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Something very on topic
http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/01/07/th...me_journalism/
To Be Edited
Re: 2006 Games Poll (please add suggestions)
...which is better for my bank account anyway. ) 
Linear Mode
