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360 Launch Lineup And New Games
More information continues to become available from the X05 event. Spitfire15 writes "id Software has announced a new Wolfenstein game coming onto the Xbox 360. During Peter Moore's section of X05's keynote speech he introduced id Software's Todd Hollenshead to the stage. As soon as he got on he unexpectedly announced that id Software and Raven Software were already underway with the next installment of the Wolfenstein series." Additionally, Bioware groupie writes "Today Bioware announced a new science fiction action-rpg that is already in development, Mass Effect. It will only be released for the Xbox 360 with no PC port planned and it's promising photo-realistic graphics, squad based gameplay, and continuous character development." Both titles won't make the launch window. The launch titles themselves are still up in the air, a little more than a month before the console launches. Gamespot reports: "In an effort to clear up the confusion, GameSpot asked David Reid, director of platform marketing for the Xbox, what the exact 360 launch lineup is. He said that 'there will be 15 to 20 Xbox 360 titles available on launch day' with around another half-dozen making it to market by the end of the year."
So....$400 for the console + (15 to 20) games * $50/game = $1150 to $1400.
Yikes, that's a lot of money. A couple of mortgage payments for a lot of people. This reminds me why I only buy hardware and games that have been out for at least a year. Save money on both, and I only get games that turn out to be good!
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But let's see a show of hand of how many people are excited about the XBox 360. At this point the only game that remotely interests me is Perfect Dark Zero, but I'm not paying 400 bucks to play it on the day it comes out. I'd rather wait and see what Sony has to offer and what Nintendo's lineup will be. I'm betting a lot of people feel the same way - after all, both companies still have a couple of cards they haven't shown us (Sony has a "big surprise" and Nintendo is releasing details at a snail's pace).
Is there really a compelling reason to get the XBox 360 on the day it comes out, other than to brag to your friends who can't afford one?
I'm just really glad that I don't work for a software company that's making a 360 game right now, cause everything about this sounds really, really rushed.
You know, I'd hope by know that game makers (or console makers) would fix some of the most annoying parts playing a console first person shooter. We don't all use the controller the same, so why the heck only provide one configuration for the controller. I would think the very first, most basic thing to do when creating a game, is add the ability to configure the controller.
There are numerous console games, Batman Begins and Prince of Persia WW, that have zero controller configuration.
For that reason, I hope Microsoft has done their homework, and provide a transparent means of configuring the controller. Maybe a simple utility from the dashboard that lets the user reassign the "default" keys, possibly even storing person configurations, so that I can switch when I want. Or, maybe require that all games provide controller configuration in order to sport the XBOX360 logo?
he would confirm only eight games as being available the same day and date as the Xbox 360: Project Gotham Racing 3, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, Need for Speed Most Wanted, and FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup.
Let me be the first (or maybe not?) to say "meh!"
And to this Wolfenstein announcement, again "meh!" How many more first-person shooters do we really need? It's not as if anybody was clamoring for another Wolf sequel after the last one (which was basically a dud, even by cookie-cutter FPS standards).
So we've got a few sports games, a racing game or two, a couple FPS's and Kameo, which was announced like 5 years ago and has now made the switch from two different systems to the 360. Yawn! Double-yawn!
Not even an attempt at innovation here. Nothing that's any different from what's available right now, except for higher resolutions. I'll take Katamari Damacy over any one of these games. Heck, give me KD in high-def and I'll sign up so fast for an Xbox 360 it'll make your head spin. But not one of these announced titles has me excited in the slightest.
Remember back when every successive generation of consoles allowed for totally new types of gameplay that we'd never seen before? You couldn't even do a Super Mario or Sonic type game until the NES/SMS. You couldn't do first-person stuff until the SNES with its scaling capabilities (which the Genesis tried to emulate later, especially with the Sega CD add-on). You couldn't do 3D until the Saturn and PlayStation. It all started slowing down with the current generation, and now it seems like all we're getting are sequels and rehashes that play exactly the same as what came before even on brand new machines.
I'll probably eventually buy a 360 and a PS2 (and a Revolution) because that's just what I do, and also because I do want high-def. But jesus, it's like developers (including MS's in-house teams) aren't even trying anymore.
People claim to want innovation, but the data doesn't support it. Compare the sales of Madden to the sales of Katamari. Games will go where the sales are.
Maybe I can't be objective on this, since I did Savage.
While I don't disagree at all with the above, "really, really rushed" describes around 99.9% of projects in the game industry at any given time. You're either rushing to meet a launch window, a holiday, or a deliverable deadline that ultimately decides whether you get paid for another x-months.
I imagine that Sony and their first-party software teams feel just as rushed. Sure, they have six more months until launch, but they have they are dealing w/ a different set of variables, and their lackluster showing at TGS only fuels rumors that they are scrambling just as hard.