Just reading this article about some of the best game engines seen so far (although the article was published in 2009), made me think of Skyrim's new one.
The article can be found here: http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1003725p1.html
Especially relevant is the RAGE engine for Red Dead Redemption and the Avalanche engine for Just Cause 2 and The Hunter, since they seem to be capable of handling really really really big worlds (like several times bigger than Oblivion), something that Skyrim focuses on too.
Nevertheless, CryEngine 3 looks absolutely wonderful (imo the best), and it also handles big worlds very good... and is very very dynamical.

If you're interested in how they look, here's some videos from above engines:

RAGE engine for Red Dead Redemption: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzWCAwHjqbg&feature=fvst
Avalanche engine for Just Cause 2 and The Hunter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzZEAvvSzt0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIRwCOB-cw0
CryEngine 3 (not released yet): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D9oINHI11E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kvl31g77Z8


Do you think Skyrim's new engine will be as good as these ones? Do you think if a new article would be written after its release, that it would be included under the top 10 of game engines?
And by thinking I mean hoping/speculating. No one knows. This is more of a "I wish it was like this" thread

Don't make this a thread about "Gameplay > graphics/engine, win all the time, yay!". A good engine is not a must for a great game, but it definitely makes things easier and look a whole lot better. Don't forget that with a very good engine, comes much much more possibilities; therefore... good gameplay can obviously highly depend on it, but doesn't have to. Just look at Morrowind