My heart sank... I used to care about Sonic, but I've given up any hope of there being a great Sonic game again while Sega chooses to keep throwing half-assed games out every 6 months.
They need to step away and spend a long time on a new mainstream game, as Nintendo do with Mario and Zelda.

People getting upset over an 8.0...

I'm not surprised if it is real; I've never understood the hype that this game is getting. I'd predict a metascore of 7.5 at best.

Of that list, GTA:CW, but overall I'd probably say FFIV.

I think the next Wii Zelda be look similar to TP, seeing as they're already developing Spirit Tracks with the WW art style. I don't see both games using the cel-shaded style if the two titles are being developed at the same time.

Lollipop and Pinky. I forget their real names.
Of the main characters, my favourite is probably Beat.

Always the critics.
They know what they're talking about most of the time, whereas player reviews generally only give very polarised views of a game. I find critic reviews much more useful because they look at the whole picture, rather than selectively reviewing the positive or negative elements and ignoring the others.
They're also far too influenced by hype surrounding certain games; you just know that if something like The Conduit is universally slated, legions of fans will still praise it no matter what.

I don't allow myself to get really hyped for any releases now. I let myself before last year's E3, and that was simply painful.
I always have faith with Nintendo's core IP games such as Mario and Zelda, but it's the third parties titles that people are getting too excited about. Sonic Unleashed/Black Knight immediately spring to mind, and I can tell already that The Conduit won't live up to the ridiculous amount of hype it's been receiving.

The GBA slot doesn't matter to me at all. I haven't played any GBA games on my DS since I got it at launch, and there's no games I'd want to go back to or try for the first time.

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. Super Paper Mario
4. Sonic Unleashed
5. Bully: Scholarship Edition