http://kotaku.com/5599553/halo-reach-campaign-trailer-debuts
Now, I can enjoy a good Halo game now and then myself, and I don't hop on the hate train like it's fashionable to do, but it's pretty ballsy to call yourself the most anticipated game when it's been about a year since the last game in your series and you're going against a game that's been hotly anticipated for 12 years and is the sequel to the national sport of a country.
/pointless rant

i kept an eye on preorder lists the last few months and suprisingly halo has been above SC2 on an awful lot of sites

I think that, no matter how great Starcraft 2 may be, it's still a PC-only game, which means its sales are likely to be nowhere near the ones of the next Halo title.
The console market is bigger than the PC one, especially for games like these.
So Halo is probably actually anticipated by more people than SC 2, no matter how much you may wish for the opposite.

Doubtful. The top selling Halo game has sold about 8 million. The original Starcraft has sold 11 million. Halo 3 ODST sold 3 million. On launch Starcraft 2 sold 1.8 million units (not counting any of Asia). If South Korea is South Korea, you can probably add on at least half a million right there. That's just a stone's throw away from ODST's numbers right there. On launch day.
Also, anticipation is not necessarily measured by numbers, but by the passion of those who are anticipating it. And let me tell you, people who wanted another Starcraft game wanted it more that your average Harry Halo gamer wanted the next Halo game (which is evident in part due to Halo ODST's declining sales despite massive advertising).

Starcraft has had a lot longer to sell 11 million than Halo 3 has had to sell 8 million.... Like I'm talking the better part of a decade.
Edit: Plus I bet those sales include Brood War, so maybe include Halo ODST with Halo 3 and then you have a tie of 11 million each

ODST sold a lot less though... every fad dies, especially when you pimp it every year.

Exactly. It doesn't even seem like they're trying to hype this one. If MS had said that Halo 3 was the most anticipated game of the year, I would have been fine with it, even if SC2 came out that year, because, you know, a lot of people were really looking forward to it and the hype machine was in full force. I can count the people I know who have played ODST one one hand, whereas I know at least 10x as many people who have played Halo 3.

An XBOX 360 exclusive is the most anticipated game of the year - NOT.
Maybe for the owners of a 360
Worldwide sales figures
1.Wii – 70.9 million as of 31 March 2010 (2010 -03-31)
2.Xbox 360 – 41.7 million as of 23 July 2010 (2010 -07-23)
3.PlayStation 3 – 38.1 million as of 30 June 2010 (2010 -06-30)
I am guessing anything on the WII wins most anticipated game of the year.

Are we still talking about GAMES here?

Of course we are talking games. What I don't understand is how a game that is an exclusive on what may very well be the weakest of all systems can possably be the most anticipated game of the year. I know It wasn't on my radar.

Weakest system? No way. Just because the 360 was in second place in terms of console sales does NOT mean that it's the weakest selling system. Modern Warfare 2 on 360 tripled the sales of the PS3 version. I think that anyone who wanted a 360 this year already had one. And Wii is always going to be on top thanks to their target market.

isn't the attachment rate of the wii like not even 1 game?

Which might mean something if people actually bought games for their Wii. Generally, when it comes to games that aren't casual or MMOs, 360 sales top anything else.
But still, Halo Reach isn't only the end of a decreasingly popular 360 exclusive series, but also it's up against some very tough competition this year. The claim that it's the most anticipated game this year is a very dubious one.

Only on GOG ;-)

Almost weakest in sales - but I think weakest in a system (Technologically)

See Here for the full artilce - the most recent I can find. See attached for a summary. The PS2 is still kicking them all.