The long-awaited sequel to one of the seminal real-time strategy games in history?  Just knowing it exists is already enough to put it on our list, but knowing that the classic gameplay formula is being reinterpreted and updated for a modern audience, that the space opera story will also move forward, and that there will new takes on the single-player campaigns for each side, all excite us. We also put this on this list because of all the Blizzard projects we know about, it seems like this one is the furthest along and can realistically be on shelves this year.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game currently under development by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft. The game is being developed for concurrent release on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The release date is based upon the game meeting Blizzard’s quality standards; however, parent company Activision Blizzard anticipates Wings of Liberty to be released in the first half of 2010. Initially conceived as a single game, StarCraft II was split during development into three installments: the base game which acquired the subtitle Wings of Liberty, and two expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. The decision was made to provide more breadth to develop the game’s story.

Set in the 26th century in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy, the game is built around three species: the Terrans, human exiles from Earth; the Zerg, a race of insectoids; and the Protoss, a species with vast psionic power. Wings of Liberty specifically focuses on the Terrans, with the two expansions covering the Zerg and Protoss. The game is set four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War, and follows the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads an insurgent group against the autocratic Terran Dominion. However, unable to inflict major damage against the Dominion, Raynor’s forces are relegated to the roles of mercenaries, recovering artifacts of an ancient species thought extinct, the Xel’Naga, for their enigmatic employers. The game reunites old characters from the original game, as well as introducing new characters and locations to the franchise.