badgenome said:
No kidding. This time last year, it was all, "Yeah, yeah, Microsoft had a great 2007, but they don't have anything lined up for 2008." The 360's line-up this year has been STAGGERING... Lost Odyssey, Ninja Gaiden II, Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, Gears 2, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Left 4 Dead, etc. not to mention XBLA games and the slew of awesome games it shares with the PS3. Perhaps that won't win an Internet pissing contest, but I honestly don't see any way for me to play every game I'd like to. With Microsoft seriously trying to compete, does anybody honestly think they won't have a huge line-up next year as well? I don't think they're so stupid as to forget that games sell consoles and not vice versa, and they certainly know that software is the real money maker in this business. It seems to me that they just don't usually announce games that far in advance. We didn't even get a confirmation about Gears 2 until February or March. |
Like Fable II and Banjo? And if you want to include 3rd parties, which you have in your own list, Splinter Cell and Alan Wake? Microsoft announces games early just like every other company (except Nintendo, and even that only started recently), the latest examples being Halo 3 Recon and Ninja Blade.
The only titles that weren't announced "that far in advance" were Gears 2 and a couple of casual titles at E3 like You're in the Movies. Similarly, Sony only announced Resistance 2 this past February, then MotorStorm 2 and Siren: Blood Curse in March.
Nobody ever thought that Microsoft had a weak 2008 line up, with games like Fable, Banjo, and Ninja Gaiden a lock for this year (as well as strong rumors of Gears 2). Some just thought that Sony had a BETTER line up, based on the folly assumption that games like Killzone 2, inFamous, White Knight Chronicles, and even GT5 and FFXIII would make it out this year, in addition to titles like MGS4, LBP, and (at the time rumored) Resistance 2. Delays put a stop to all of that.
Similar to the Resistance 2/Gears 2 announcements, Sony is very likely to announced R&CF2 and Uncharted 2 at the beginning of next year for the '09 holiday season. Insomniac and Naughty Dog are reliable developers that work like clockwork, so it wouldn't be surprising at all. Hell, I'd say these games are more likely to make it out next year than God of War III.
MS certainly won't have a weak line up next year, with Alan Wake, Halo Wars, Halo 3 Recon, and Star Ocean 4 already in the pipeline, and the probable announcement of Mass Effect 2 (their last game from BioWare), and maybe something small from Rare (another Viva Pinata game, perhaps). It's after that that I'm worried about, because they just don't have the man power to create a sufficient amount of games for the console. Mass Effect 2 will be BioWare's last 360 timed exclusive (if it's even timed), Halo Wars is Ensemble's last title, Turn 10 is now juggling two franchises, Lionhead takes forever to make games so we probably won't see anything from them for another 3+ years, etc. After that it's left to timed exclusivity deals. Hell, Star ocean 4 is probably one of these deals. There's a reason it hasn't gone multiplat like FFXIII yet.
The changes that have happened over the past year won't have an immediately apparent impact on the situation.
