Is the point of this thread to say you think the 360's 2009 announced lineup sucks and you know it will get better?  (Note: I think MS's 2009 lineup is looking good).  I am not really following your logic.  Microsoft pre-announces their larger titles years in advance just like Sony, Alan Wake, Too Human, Halo Chronicles, Halo Wars all come to mind.  If you think that MS is going to announce a 2009 title the size of Halo at GDC or E3, I think you better prepare to be disappointed.  I know Gears was announced at GDC last year, but everyone anticipated it for 2008 prior to that.  What big unannounced title do you think they have for 2009?  I do think MS will have some surprises at E3, but I seriously doubt any big announcement will drop in 2009.  All of MS's remaining first party developers are accounted for, and all of the major third parties are multi-plat this generation.

I'm pretty disappointed with MS also, SO4 im worried about due to Tri-Ace's previous projects (TLR,IU) and I dislike RTS ala Halo Wars.

Sony is really looking nice in '09. KZ2 is really shaping up nice.

i understand your desire to be excited for future titles to be released this year, but i dont mind too much because with star ocean 4:the last hope,halo wars,fallout 3 dlc. thats enough too hold me over till some announcements are made at gdc in march, e3 in june and tokyo in oct. also dont forget we get tekken 6 this fall too.

   It's because MS keeps shedding game staff and development houses.  The lack of AAA games in the pipeline to announce is a direct result of that.  I mean now would be the time to buy up developers that are available on the cheap not shed staff and developers like the continually successful RTS team from Ensemble and the Flight Simulator guys.  All that seems to be left now is Bungee and Rare which, given Rare's not great post Nintendo track record, means they only have Bungee as a sole AAA developer.  They also have a few aliances with Epic, Valve and Lionshead but they're really cutting back hard on their first party footprint.

   Is it possible that MS is trying to ease out of the segment like they are with the Zune to concentrate more on Windows 7 and other profit centers?  You can tell Sony is still in it for the long haul as they buy up developers and maintain a dozen first party studios (they just bought another developer which they turned into SOE Austin a few weeks ago) and Nintendo seems to maintain a pretty healthy Nintendo branded development house, so why is Microsoft not buying up some successful developers?  Instead they seem to be doing the opposite and taking the axe to studios that have been pretty golden in the past, Age of Empires 1-3 certainly came nowhere near losing money.

   The one other possibility is that they're keeping a new console release under wraps and all the big games are being developed to launch with that.  If they are shooting for a 2010 launch then they would certainly need to be making the launch games right now.  So they're either headed out or getting ready for the 3rd round it seems.

I think the issue isn't that Microsoft's 2009 lineup can, or will be bad given what's there, but rather the fact we don't know what the lineup will exactly consist of, and the release dates for Q3 and Q4.

Potentially, we could have Halo 3: ODST, Alan Wake, Kingdom Under Fire 2, Spinter Cell: Conviction and more. That'd be a decent Q4 lineup, provided there were a few smaller titles surrounding it.

@mrstickball - That would be a good lineup. I just don't understand why the op feels that this is any different than Sony. Potentially Sony could release Heavy Rain, God of War 3, GT5, Uncharted 2, and FF Versus in Q4. It is unlikely, but all of these titles have been announced without release dates. I was under the impression the OP thought there were big unannounced titles for 2009.

That makes zero sense. They cut prices last year, and are prepared to follow up with another price cut if Sony does so. If they want to get out of the business, why not just sell the hardware for as much as they can and drop it like a hot potato? This sounds like wishful thinking on your part, given your history of MS bashing.

My theory is that they've been shifting focus to Microsoft Game Studios, not necessarily for development but for publishing. Some of the stuff Kudo Tsunoda has said seems to hint at this. Since they're keeping close ties to Bungie and the Ensemble spin-offs, but don't have to pay for their studios' upkeep anymore, they're more free to contract out to third parties for big exclusives. For instance, for games like Aion Guard or Faith and a .45 which need a publisher, Microsoft could conceivably step in and get some much needed exclusives.

I thought that Microsoft was going to become more tranparent.

MS has cut some studios, but they are also supporting several start-ups that have splintered off of old studios. I think they are going to get a better bang for their buck with the new approach.

We also know that there are several unannounced projects coming from Rare, Lionhead and Bungie.

People keep talking about how much better the PS3 lineup is for 2009, but I just don't see it. We already know that the two biggest hitters, FXIII and GT5, won't be released outside of Japan in 2009.

Last thing I remember, Bungie is gone.  They are no longer under the Microsoft banner.  Microsoft got Halo as an IP out of it, but they aren't under Microsoft.  Rare is, and I believe Lionshead is also.  You have the makers of Forza still with Microsoft and another studio.  Ensemble is also gone.