While I'm all for kinematics and facial free-form deformations - it's becoming increasingly common as we speak, and truth be told that really doesn't affect gameplay very much. I'll certainly still play the game eventually, but promises about AI are like an MMORPG developer promising stability during launch . . .

Now the enhanced physics of Deus Ex 2, for instance, /are/ the gameplay. You're given a simulated world where you have objectives and have to accomplish them using any of a variety of ways - brute force, stealth, thorough exploration (which usually turns up well-hidden keycodes) or creative use of the physics engine (put explosives on push-cart, push it at enemies and shoot it at the last second).

That excites me. That's something I haven't seen before and which fundamentally changes the experience of the game for me. As someone who has put in his hours as both developer and player of games, new technology is always "Oh, hey, that's cool", but new ways of thinking about and playing games are always where the real "HOLY SHIT" is.