[Blarg]

Check out Earth 2160 coming out in a couple weeks. Gamespot has great pics of it and a preview. It's an RTS that can be scaled down, but when put on max resolution, it has incredible detail and looks really great. It's part of a proven series. Interestingly, you can highly customize your units and buildings.

Everyone here seems to be talking about Civ 4 lately, but that one supposedly you don't need a top system to play at all.

AOE 3 is out, but as a really avid AOE 2 player, I've passed it by. It's buggy yet, and the play is a good bit different from AOE2, with lots not appreciating the change. Also, the AI is supposedly atrocious. I wouldn't be surprised if it's good multiplayer, but multiplayer is not on Microsoft's The Zone anymore, so it won't be quite as easy to get games for years on end.

I'm also looking forward to next year's Supreme Commander, from Chris Taylor, the guy who did Total Annihilation, a groundbreaking RTS that's still probably the most fun I've ever had with a computer game. It too is an RTS, and looks reminiscent of T.A., but with even larger scale battles. The reason I mention it is that I saw some breathtaking pictures on Gamespot, and it will probably test a new machine greatly when it comes out.

I guess a first person shooter is mandatory to test a new computer. I'll leave it to others to suggest those.