New game to christen my new rig

I've just finished buying all the parts for a brand new rig (see sig for details). I've had my previous rig for some time, and have been only an MMO and PS3 player for a long time. Before that (think Baldur's Gate and Starcraft) I was a PC Gamer, but only for MMOs since. Now that I have a top-end PC again, I'd like to get back into PC Gaming in addition to my MMO addiction and PS3.

What I'd like is some input on a good game or two with which to christen my new rig. I got the free Terminator Salvation game that nvidia throws at everyone who buys a video card, but I've heard its awful. I'm hoping for something to really dazzle me with how far PC games have come given the proper hardware. I'm generally not a huge fan of shooters, but I'm not against them either especially since they tend to be the most graphics-oriented, but if there's a good role-playing or strategy game, please throw that up here as well.

Thanks for providing as much advice as possible

You'll get more response in the games forum under software. But that won't stop me from throwing Fallout 3 in the fray. I'm like the FPS and RPG games and this does both with an emphasis on strategy and not just run and gun. The only caveat about the game is it crashes like crazy on me. I've tried patching, the single CPU thread fix, vsync, and still, crashes are regular. Sometimes I'll get a whole night crash free. But if it happens regularly, it really sucks the fun out of my game time. Going to try loading it into Win 7 RC and see if that works better.

Crysis is a great game for visuals and the suit options do make it a pleasant variance on the FPS. Still a lot of run and gun, especially in Warhead.

Its not a new game, but for a few bucks, Portal is great fun for a few hours of gameplay. One of the most original puzzle games I've ever played.

thanks guys -- i did post to games forum as well just to get both perspectives

i've heard of crysis from an fps benchmark perspective but never from a gaming perspective so i guessed that it sucked as a game... i've got fallout 3 for PS3 already so i'd be hard pressed to buy it twice. i'll definitely check out portal and may even buy crysis if i can find it cheap

anyone else got some other good ideas? something like fallout 3 without being fallout 3 is ideal

not every one agrees with me that crysis sucks

I will get flamed for that comment very soon
LOL

hmmm get prototype

If you prefer RPGs, try Sacred 2, although it has some crash bugs also, discussed on their forum. There may be a patch; my game is updated, but I haven't played it since the update since I was reformatting my primary rig with the Win7 RC.