Ok, I know I haven't actually played it much, but I never saw WoW as a next-gen game... more like a fine tuned old school MMO. I do however think some need to be in the category, such as Eve-Online.

The eve universe has always pushed the gamers to an extent that many find it too much. Some see this as a problem, but I think it's a brave way of almost fine-tuning your gamer-base to those willing to push the limit.

By now you probably picked up some bias, but I think it's a combination of depth, interaction and constant improvement, the last of course referring more to MMO games.

Anyway, other than that, I absolutely agree on Braid, I do enjoy it and Starcraft 2 is good but didn't live up to the hype imo, though I guess not much does.

Going back to the MMO idea, I think that next-gen games will be free to play, well designed and supported games using up to date tech, such as may be possible with Black Prophecy from what I've seen in the beta... will have to see how it fairs when released.