Summer is usually a hot time for RPGamers, and usually June, July and August are a literal second Christmas holiday for those who are fans of our genre. However, RPGamers have felt the pain of a drought in the summer of 2002. With few new RPGs to choose from, our ranks have been forced to do unheard of things like go outside and socialize, although many probably chose to watch TV, catch up on older RPGs, or replay classics.

The sad truth is this: most of us have had way too much time on our hands and, besides those who enjoyed high quality titles like NeverWinter Nights and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, most of us haven’t had too much new stuff to play with. September ends that, as the month of September sees just as many RPG releases as all three summer months combined, and it doesn’t stop there.

With so many titles coming out in the rest of the year, all us RPGamers have really been able to do is decide which ones we were most anticipated, and hence we decided to share our excitement over the rest of the year’s games with you. Which games will be breakout hits and which will be sleeper hits, garnering their own hardcore audience? Only time will tell, but hopefully this will make many of you look a bit harder at some games that you might not have looked at before.

Oh, and if you disagree with any of the voting, and of course most of you will, please go to RPGamer’s Message Forums to voice your differences of opinion. Any e-mails to webmaster or personal e-mails about disagreements in the voting will be deleted without reply. We’d rather defend our choices publicly anyways.