Microsoft: ‘2010 will be the Biggest Year in Xbox History’

More news from Microsoft's CES press conference. Microsoft has announced that Natal will be available this Holiday 2010. It's an "entirely new, yet completely natural way to play," said Microsoft's Robbie Bach. With games like Alan Wake (which will have DLC episodes after its release), Halo: Reach and the release of Project Natal, "2010 will be the biggest year in Xbox history," he added. Other big games coming to the Xbox 360 include Crackdown 2, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Mass Effect 2.

Game Room was also announced, which will be a "place to relive the glory days of arcade games," and over the next three years, it will see the release of "over 1000" retro titles. It will initially launch with over 30 retro classics from Konami, Atari, Activision, and others. Every week, a new set of Arcade games will be released on Game Room, and it will be available on both PC and Xbox 360 with universal Xbox Live Achievements and leaderboards. Similar to PSN's Home, XBL Avatars will be able to inhabit gamers' arcade rooms, which can be customized and upgraded. Game Room will carry a two-tiered price structure. Gamers can purchase a title for 240-400 MS Points or pay 40 MS Points and play the game once.

Also, this spring, the first Modern Warfare 2 content packs will be available exclusively first on Xbox Live. What will the DLC consist of? No word yet, hopefully more Spec Ops missions and likely more game modes for multiplayer.

Overall, however, the conference didn't really reveal anything that we didn't already know (i.e. Natal, Alan Wake, etc.), at least for the Xbox 360, and the leaked interview blew the "surprise" on Game Room (which frankly, I can't see taking off -- I just don't think retro gaming is going to have much of an impact). Plus, we all knew Natal would be coming in 2010, so no shocker there. They also censored the Halo: Reach video and Game Room demonstration shown at the conference to all streaming users.

The conference primarily touched on Windows 7, which also comes as no surprise. None of the demonstrations shown were particularly interesting, but it seemed Microsoft was able to keep it a little more brief for each product unlike the Sony conference which took place earlier today.

Will 2010 be the biggest year in Xbox history? Let us know your thoughts.

Microsoft lacks alot of things, but certainly not confidence..

Didn't they say in 2007 that they had the best gaming lineup of all time? Then they were essentially beaten by Wii Play, Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero III, and Mario & Sonic...

I hope they can deliver. Competition helps the industry move forward. Look at what it did to PS3 in just one year...

Source- well of course they are always going to claim it. Once again always a difference between PR and reality haha.

As for the Game Room thing, I like the idea, but without Nintendo games you aren't getting all the retro stuff haha. Also seems like a direct copy of that of the Virtual Console minus the Nintendo games. Oh well, I love VC so why not.

But glad they are claiming this as they need to start boasting how 2010 is going to be a big year which all of them are going to start doing. Definitely going to be one of the biggest years for Software and with addition of things like Natal, Sony wand, and Vitality Sensor the marketing and hype should be massive.

Sony owns the first half of the year for sure, Mass effect isnt even exclusive. The end of the year has halo which will move a lot of software but not hardware, and natal which I believe will have very average sales.

I just don't think the xbox has that much hype anymore as it did in 2008...

Sony seems to be doing a lot of things also; motion controller, 3d
gaming , new online , AAA games .... Not to mention blu Ray is becoming so big.

I am looking forward to some games on my xbox like Alan wake , mass effect 2, splinter cell and maybe halo reach ( 3 and odst huge let downs) but I don't think it's gonna be the best hear unless I see a price cut

I see him trolling......

You mean in terms of quality???
Really???

Seriously now guys, it is getting ridiculous

You have turned EVERY bloody MS topic about CES to a troll fest.

What's your problem?...