That is THE question everybody is waiting to get answers for... first it was "PS3 will dominate 08"... then more and more quality 360 games started to show potential... now everyone is thinking "Wasn´t there another console that was selling surprisingly well ???" So yeah Nintendo better have some big fireworks going off at this years E3... knowing them they will have a few aces though... plus the non-shovelware 3rd party support may start rolling in by the end of the year... put thats all speculation...

 Haha...good one. I think most of those people thought wii gaming ended after Smash Brothers... j/k

 Right Starcraft...doh, FABLE 2!!!! I forgot bout that one... 

Also Starcraft...looking at your signature, there are 12 360 games that rated 90+ on metacritic. Ikaruga is up there too now... :)

I know you are talking about hardware and I do believe GeoW2 will move some consoles (along withe the other 4Q games), but I believe GeoW2, assuming the don't produce a pile of steaming crap, will outsell Halo 3. There, I said it. As far as the "why Gears 2 may fail threads": Epic has seen Halo 3 multiplayer. Epic has seen COD4. They know what they have to deliver for it to be a huge success. Epic is a solid developer and I don't expect them to cut any corners. Given how bit this title is for MS, plan on them providing money and support to insure GeoW2 is a stellar game.

Here is a question to all...

would you rather see GoW2 be delayed than be released not as good as it could be?

A few major issues with your statements.

First off, only one of the given titles you listed is actually a heavy hitter.

SOCOM = Not that big anymore. VGC states 1.1m in the US for SOCOM 3.

Resistance 2 = Certainly a the biggest heavy hitter you listed in terms of hype, imo. But still, it sold 1/5th of what Gears did in the US.

Littlebig Planet = Not in the same market as Gears. And LBP does have BK3 to compete with (as well as most likely a slew of top-tier Nintendo, kid-friendly titles)

Motorstorm 2 = Again, MS1 wasn't a big SELLER. And in a different genre.

 Killzone 2 = Could be a big seller, but we've speculated so much about this game, it could nosedive. Or do real well, who knows.

Here's my analysis and opinion: Fact is, Gears of War 1 did go up against some pretty good competition: If your using cross-genre titles to validate your point, Gears of War went up against FFXII, and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which are certainly uber-IPs. And Gears faced internal challenges from Rainbow Six Vegas, and Call of Duty 3, and still butchered the competition (and outsold every other full priced game that released around that time period, sans FFXII's international cume).

And lets not forget: It will launch at Christmas. At that point, consumers spend money on most any single title (Hannah Montana on Wii did pretty well during Christmas, last I checked). So there'll definately be enough revenue for every title to be had. And Gears will be one of the highest desired titles at the end of 08.

I'm not quite sure what other games we're talking about for the late-08 release schedule other than the PS3 IP's you mentioned, and of course, MS will have plenty of other titles to garner sales in late 08 like Halo Wars, and of course, Nintendo won't sit idly by. Titles tend to survive if they're good. And Gears was one of the best-selling, best-reviewed games, and I tend to think consumers really do want to reward a great game with more sales.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Gears 2 will sell 6m+ units, and outsell both Resistance 2 and SOCOM combined. Could even outsell Resistance 2 and KZ2, but I won't go that far :-p

Actually....I'd be more worried that SOCOM, Resistance 2 and KZ2 will cannibalize eachother's sales. Not saying it WILL happen, but it could with the smaller userbase vs. the 360.

Yes, it has some friendly competition.

I'll say Gears 2 sells 6 million

Resistance 2 will sell 4 million

Killzone 2 will sell 2-2.5 million

LBP could sell 2 million

SOCOM will sell at least 3 million I think, including downloads and disks.

MontanaHatchet said: To be honest, I don't think any of those games will even sell as much as Gears of War 2. GEOW2 could easily outsell the first, and none of those games looks like it has a chance for 5 million, except for LittleBigPlanet, which should end up selling 100 million .

I don't want to burst any bubbles here, or anything, but I can almost gurantee you that, though we all hope LBP will catch on and be great, it's not gonna sell like that, I don't think. In fact, I have my doubt that it'll be as successful as titles like Rachet and Clank.

It's a new IP.

It's "cartooney."

It's a platformer.

It's on the Playstation 3.

It's arguably a bridge title.

I seriously doubt LBP will sell half as well as any game with a 2 after it. Particularly if it isn't extremely well reviewed.

Delayed, though I'm not buying Epic games now.

Because you know what Miyamoto says. Delayed games will be good eventually, rushed games will suck forever.

You're not going to buy a possibly great game because of comments. What about all the positive things CliffyB said about the wii, are you going you going ignore to that. Also Cliffy is the one actually making the game so you'd think you'd give Gears 2 consideration considering all the positive things he said.

Personally, I think the holiday 08 Xbox lineup beats the crap out of the PS3, other than LBP... The PS3 may have R2 and KZ2, but those are easily matched by Gears 2 and Left4Dead. Never underestimate Epic and Valve when it comes to online-heavy shooters.

Add in Fable 2, Halo Wars (puh-leeze MS, steal the Wiimote concept for this game), and Banjo 3, and you have a damn fine lineup that's well-rounded and from quality developers.

2009, on the other hand, should go easily to the PS3 with GT5, FFXIII, and GoW3 if it releases. MS will probably have a hard time coming up with one 5m+ seller in 2009 (unless something extraordinary arises), much less the 7m+ potential of FF and GT.