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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."
Since the post didn't see fit to mention the games that would be available on launch day, here's the pertinent article transcript
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Xbox 360 launch lineup finalized "in the next few weeks" Microsoft ID's eight of final 15 to 20 day-and-date launch games, says rest are in the "final stages of certification."
In the run-up to today's X05 event in Amsterdam, the industry consensus was that Microsoft would use the event to announce the Xbox 360 launch lineup for North America, Europe, or both.
In fact, neither happened.
Speaking to the assembled press, Peter Moore, corporate vice president of worldwide Xbox marketing and publishing, boasted that there were 200 Xbox 360 games in development, including "many launch titles." Chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach promised the console would have the "best games and launch lineup" of any console yet--but didn't divulge all the games that will go on sale alongside the 360 November 22 in the US.
Adding to the confusion was a press release Microsoft issued titled "Xbox 360 launch line-up announced." It listed only three first-party games--Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero, and Kameo: Elements of Power--under the heading "Titles that will form part of the impressive Christmas holiday portfolio." The second category of games was called "Other great games announced or shown at X05," and it included Gears of War, FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, Full Auto, Saint's Row, and Condemned: Criminal Origins, as well as the just-announced Too Human, Mass Effect, and Crackdown.
The release then listed a third category, "Franchise titles that will make their debut on Xbox 360," which included Superman Returns: The Videogame, Call of Duty 2, Castle Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, MotoGP 2006: Ultimate Racing Technology, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 4, and Quake 4. Given that at least half the games listed have 2006 release dates--and some were just announced--it would be impossible for the release to contain the Xbox 360 launch lineup as the title indicates.
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. For the moment, though, 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.
As for the other seven to 12 Xbox 360 games that will be available on November 22, Reid said they would be announced "in the next few weeks." "They are currently in the final stages of certification," he told GameSpot, referring to the quality-assurance process all third-party games must go through from their respective console maker. So it is likely that if any of the submitted games--which Reid declined to mention--do not pass the process sometime in the next fortnight, they will not make it to market by the end of the year.
I think anyone that decides to buy 15 to 20 games at launch can probably afford a couple grand. Most people just get like 2 or 3
Although I do agree on buying games a while after they first come out. Saves an absolute fortune.
cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
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.
I actually got to play the demo level of Kameo, and it looks, sounds, and plays quite nicely. I'm much more interested in it now that I've had a hands-on with the game.
And PGR3 looks so incredible from the footage I've seen that I may have to pick that up too.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
I bet they all slip.
Xbox will launch, and the only thing to buy for it will be a bunch of face plates.
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?
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.
I honestly feel that when Nintendo unveiled the new controller, home video games changed as we know it. Pretty much everyone, even the most die hard fan boys on all sides had to take a step back. Saying to themselves, "what the hell have we be doing these last few years?" Even your average joe consumer can't really think of a reason to buy the new XBox or PS2 aside from hi-def.
I think right now, both Sony and Microsoft are seriously watching Nintendo. There are tons of meetings going on right now analyzing what people *may* want. This is diametrically opposed to the way we've been doing it, which is "give them what sold last time, but prettier and with some minor new features."
I own all consoles currently out, and they each have their own advantages. However, I'm grinning ear to ear at what Nintendo has done to the industry. It's much like when photography was first invented. Painters were suddenly unecessary, as photos were quicker an more realistic. It took Picasso and other outstanding artists to show what painting could bring to the world that photos could not. I've used this analogy before, but never has it seemed more appropriate.
As for MS and Sony (to a lesser extent), they have already entrenched themselves in their battlegrounds, there is little that can be done to go back. Only time will tell if they are in the right war.
-- I have fans? Wow.