Great lineup indeed. Game of the year is going to be a serious battle with those in place next to Nintendo's big three, any of which IMO have a shot at it as well.

I'd say it hints at a price drop just after those launches. You know, use Halo to get rid of that extra million stuck in the chain, cash in on those who just can't wait, and then roll in the new process with a nice price drop just in time for Christmas.

Those release dates aren't set other than Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed. I bet Mass Effect is pushed back to a holiday release, maybe Bioshock as well.

    I know this might be somewhat lofty, but I think God of War II already went and earned the GOTY crown, or atleast I'd already consider it a major contender. Didn't Resident Evil 4 come out at/near the beginning of the year that it won a bunch of GOTY awards?

 There is no wa in hell they are releasing Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect in the same month...

Are you insane? It will be spread out, Ubisoft won't release Creed the same month as either GTA or Halo and Mass Effect and Halo 3 the same month is impossible and very very stupid for Microsoft... 

If that is true, what are the christmas numbers going to look like?

This is going to be one expensive end of the year.

he wording is none too clear, but I think he means GTA IV would be the game of the year. I suppose it will depend on what you kinds of games you like, I mean is anyone really surprised by the Xbox guy saying the top 3 games of the year will be GTA IV, Halo 3 and Mass Effect? Oh what a coincidence, that's 1 Xbox 360 multi-plat and two exclusives. My bet: 1.Mario Galaxy ( Game of E3 from some websites, and it was like an early build) 2.GTA IV 3.Metroid Prime 3(If it works and looks as it should) 4.Mass Effect 5.Halo 3 6.Uncharted

I know this might be somewhat lofty, but I think God of War II already went and earned the GOTY crown You´ve got to be kidding me...maybe some web will give it, but it has just to many competitors this year. It will probably get ps2´s game of the year though.

Kruze, the thing is, as others have stated: you won't sell alot of software for those titles if your not moving systems too. MS could either sell the 360 @ $400, make $150 a system, and sell far fewer games, or sell the 360 @ $300, make $50 a console, but move 5 times the games, recouping a bit of their costs. Don't think they could move 5x the software? Check the tier ratios (Im not saying a price drop would mean 5x the software just for those games and thats it, but over about a 6mo period). Why I said what I did with the reviews: GTAIV will most likely garner a 95%+, regardless if you like it or not. That'll far outweigh anything else, both from a sales standpoint and review standpoint. Mass Effect will win RPG of the year, atleast for consoles because what games are actually going to go up against it? There are no major RPG Wii titles, no PS3 titles to compete against, and KOTOR did phenominally well review wise, and I assume that it'll garner similar, ultra-positive reviews. Halo 1 and 2 either won, or got runner up GOTYs from most websites, so I just am assuming that the trend will continue. Could SMG be a contender? Absolutely. So could MP3 or SSBB. However, I don't know if they'll truely get it, as most websites have been very negative review wise on every Wii title but Zelda:TP. Even SPM, which looks PERFECT to me got a paltry 85%. Far from what's needed to match the other uber-games.

Mario is not gonna be the critical game of the year, it's between Halo 3 and GTA IV and that's a fact. Sales are also gonna be the highest for those two games. But I am still sure, Mass Effect and Halo 3 don't come out the same month at all...