XBox360 pwns all?
Welcome to my new blog, my exclusively video games oriented blog. This blog will be exclusively for talking about video games, whether it is video game culture, reviews, rumors or anything else gaming. I will give my thoughts on EVERYTHING gaming in this space.
That said, I would really like some input on good websites to link to regarding video games. Right now I am probably going to link to:
Attack of the Blog
IGN
Gamespy
Gamefaqs
Today's topic is a statement by Peter Moore of Microsoft in a keynote address at the X05 conference in Amsterdam in which he said the following:
Keeping in mind the hubris shown by Microsoft overall and in the console wars already, and also noting that this is a trade show, this still seems to be taking it a bit far. For a moment, let us presume that he is comparing like with like, in the sense that he is comparing his launch titles with those of other systems, and not comparing the few games that have been revealed so far to those on the best systems of all time, although I do not think it a stretch to think that he would do so. That said, the following are the launch titles that I have per IGN (launch titles for me would normally be strictly those that are available in the first week the system is out, but I am being generous and including all games that are listed in the November and December of this year.)
Quake 4
Frame City Killer
Call of Duty 2
Dead or Alive 4
Full Auto
Kameo: Elements of Power
King Kong
Madden NFL 06
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Neon
Perfect Dark Zero
Project Gotham Racing 3
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Gun
Ridge Racer 6
Test Drive Unlimited
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Mutant Storm
[eM] -eNCHANT arM-
BioWare RPG (Untitled Project)
FIFA 06
NBA 2K6
NBA Live 06
NHL 06
NHL 2K6
SSX 4
War Devil - Unleash the Beast Within
Now, I am being VERY generous with how I define a launch, but this does not seem to be a spectacular launch by any stretch of the imagination. What immediately stands out to me is that there is ABSOLUTELY nothing revolutionary about any one of these titles. If I were to win an XBox360, the only games that I might buy from this list, and this is based purely on what we have seen so far, are Kameo (high potential for this game to fall on its face), Full Auto, Dead or Alive 4 (which I would immediately be disappointed in, just like with all of the other DOA games... Just a bad series.), Condemned (only if the reviews love it), Tony Hawk (I have skipped the last few, so it would be nice to get reacquainted with the series), and NBA 2K6, which in my opinion is the best current sports series. That is a grand total of 6 launch games, and honestly, Full Auto is the only one I would choose over other games on other systems being released at the same time. (And in case you are wondering, 6 iffy games is nowhere near what I would consider a great launch.)
How many of these games are available on other systems, and more importantly, does anyone feel that they actually any more than a slightly superficial improvement over games on other platforms? Also, I have my own opinions on the subject, but does anyone else have any opinions about better system launch lineups? If this is the best lineup of games in history, I think I may need to reevaluate my choice of hobbies...
That said, I would really like some input on good websites to link to regarding video games. Right now I am probably going to link to:
Attack of the Blog
IGN
Gamespy
Gamefaqs
Today's topic is a statement by Peter Moore of Microsoft in a keynote address at the X05 conference in Amsterdam in which he said the following:
As we stand here, on the very cusp of launch, it is my sincere opinion that we(This is a direct transcription from footage shown on G4's Attack of the Show.)
have the best game lineup in the history of video games.
Keeping in mind the hubris shown by Microsoft overall and in the console wars already, and also noting that this is a trade show, this still seems to be taking it a bit far. For a moment, let us presume that he is comparing like with like, in the sense that he is comparing his launch titles with those of other systems, and not comparing the few games that have been revealed so far to those on the best systems of all time, although I do not think it a stretch to think that he would do so. That said, the following are the launch titles that I have per IGN (launch titles for me would normally be strictly those that are available in the first week the system is out, but I am being generous and including all games that are listed in the November and December of this year.)
Quake 4
Frame City Killer
Call of Duty 2
Dead or Alive 4
Full Auto
Kameo: Elements of Power
King Kong
Madden NFL 06
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Neon
Perfect Dark Zero
Project Gotham Racing 3
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Gun
Ridge Racer 6
Test Drive Unlimited
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Mutant Storm
[eM] -eNCHANT arM-
BioWare RPG (Untitled Project)
FIFA 06
NBA 2K6
NBA Live 06
NHL 06
NHL 2K6
SSX 4
War Devil - Unleash the Beast Within
Now, I am being VERY generous with how I define a launch, but this does not seem to be a spectacular launch by any stretch of the imagination. What immediately stands out to me is that there is ABSOLUTELY nothing revolutionary about any one of these titles. If I were to win an XBox360, the only games that I might buy from this list, and this is based purely on what we have seen so far, are Kameo (high potential for this game to fall on its face), Full Auto, Dead or Alive 4 (which I would immediately be disappointed in, just like with all of the other DOA games... Just a bad series.), Condemned (only if the reviews love it), Tony Hawk (I have skipped the last few, so it would be nice to get reacquainted with the series), and NBA 2K6, which in my opinion is the best current sports series. That is a grand total of 6 launch games, and honestly, Full Auto is the only one I would choose over other games on other systems being released at the same time. (And in case you are wondering, 6 iffy games is nowhere near what I would consider a great launch.)
How many of these games are available on other systems, and more importantly, does anyone feel that they actually any more than a slightly superficial improvement over games on other platforms? Also, I have my own opinions on the subject, but does anyone else have any opinions about better system launch lineups? If this is the best lineup of games in history, I think I may need to reevaluate my choice of hobbies...
posted by Xryz - kingofallcosmos at
11:51 PM
3 Comments:
Ha ha, first comment was spam.
Gametrailers
4CR: good Nintendo blog
Kotaku: general blog, not retarded like Joystiq is
Toastyfrog: Jeremy Parish, one of the best game writers on the Internet
1up has very bad, uh, HTML, but they have some excellent features, like the recent recurring Rhapsody features about music as it relates to games, or the recurring (but defunct?) Freeloader features, which give some rare mainstream coverage to freeware games.
Speaking of, this is TIGSource, the indie games page I'm supposed to contribute to but don't really.
...
Launches?
In America, the NES launched with Super Mario Bros. The Game Boy launched with Tetris. So ... no. No modern system launch has been able to compare with those.
If the 360 succeeds, interesting games will find it, like Katamari found the PS2, a system with a launch so bad it can be summed up in the word "Fantavision." Was Fantavision a bad game? I don't know. Nobody knows. Fantavision!
There was one 360 game which looked interesting -- Ninety-Nine Nights. I thought that was a launch title? Maybe not? Well, it's not like I would have bought one on launch anyhow.
By
Zack, at 9:04 AM
I didn't have the heart to delete the spam... It makes me feel special to know that Linda Johnson liked my post enough to comment on the AOL sale.
You will have to wait for my second part (it was three in the morning when I finished this, so I didn't get to write everything I wanted) to see what I thought about the major launches, but yes I agree that the PS2 was in my opinion one of the weakest launches in history, but the fact cannot be ignored that it included a DVD player feature (with the extra addon remote) when most people did not have one. That counts for a lot in my book, but the games were lame. I will research it, but as I recall, it was about 6 months before any good games came out.
By
Xryz - kingofallcosmos, at 2:17 PM
SSX was respectable, I would guess. SSX Tricky was, at least. Also early games were Kessen and Dynasty Warriors 2. I have never played Kessen, and my first DW was DW3 ... but both are, at least, games that could not have been done on less powerful consoles, so they help justify the PS2's existence, if not its purchase.
By
Zack, at 10:35 PM
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