After the comments by a certain Microsoft executive about how they don't release any information on games until a couple of months before, surely they must realise this isn't a good business decision by doing this? The line-up for the PS3 looks like it will quite literally spank the 360 on games in 2009, but apparently not if the comments made by the executive are anything to go by (sorry, I don't know his name). Thing is, how do we know any different until they make the announcements. Looking from purely a buyers perspective, if I had to choose a console based on the games being released in the coming year it would be the PS3 all the way at the moment. I am all for annoucements for games not being made years in advance, but by cutting it too short they might be scaring away potential new buyers.

What do you think?

Gears 2 was announced, what, 8 months before its release? As was Vesperia, but that was Namdai :/

Don't worry about it. Microsoft doesn't announce exclusives this early in the year, usually anyway.  

Most people who hear the announcements of games which are more than 6 months away either already have a console or know that Sony/MS have a different strategy. The average gamer doesn't spend a lot of time at internet forums.

MOre or less we all knew those two games are coming, especially GEOW2, worst kept secret as they say.

I don't know as it's such a bad thing. I understand how it doesn't look great against the competition, but at the same time hype has done little more than kill games this generation.

I think you have to put things in the perspective of your average customer. Sure, there's those of us who trawl the net getting every last bit of information about stuff but for the average person this isn't the case so they probably don't even know about all these PS3 releases that we are refering to here.

I'll add one more thing. The reason why Sony has a different strategy than MS is that Sony is the underdog and they can't rely on low hardware prices to get gamers to their side. That's why they feel the need to hype up their console and its games as much as possible, in the hope of spuring sales. The downside is that hyped titles sometimes fail to deliver (Lair and Haze being the worst examples), which may make people doubt the hype for other games.

Microsoft on the other hand just keeps 360's price low, keeps filling the shelves with new games and that's enough for them.

Actually it helps them. Look what happened to Resistence 2, no doubt people holding out for killzone 2. It has helped the 360 have one of the highest game attach rates ever and the ps3 has one of the lowest attach rates ever. Most people don't think about games comming out in 8~9 months. They look at what's out now or comming in the next few weeks.

GDC is coming, so are the announcements. Mass Effect hast just been announced and ea said nothing about the platform, which is strange, because it is ea. So ME2 might be another 360-exclusive.

That said you guys need to understand: PEOPLE DON'T BUY CONSOLES FOR FUTURE GAMES! Heck the Wii showing this every day for one year. The CURRENT games matter.

Of course they do. I bought mine for Valkyria Chronicles few months before it was released in west.

This whole thing about MS revealing their games at the last minute is a complete myth. Gears 2 and Viva Pinata 2 were the only games in their 2008 lineup that were revealed in the same year. Both MS and Sony reveal some of their games years in advance and some games fairly soon before release. Anyway, MS's lineup for this year looks decent, probably better than last year.