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360 Launch Lineup Released
Gamespot reports that the much-discussed launch title list for the Xbox 360 is now available. The list, from the article: "Amped 3 (2K Sports), Call of Duty 2 (Activision), Condemned: Criminal Origins (Sega), FIFA 06: Road to the World Cup (Electronic Arts), Gun (Activision), Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft Game Studios), Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts), NBA 2K6 (2K Sports), NBA Live 06 (Electronic Arts), Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts), NHL 2K6 (2K Sports), Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios), Peter Jackson's King Kong (Ubisoft), Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios), Quake 4 (Activision), Ridge Racer 6 (Namco), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (Electronic Arts), Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision)"
A bunch of sports games and FPS's! On the new XBox! Who would have guessed?
(I don't suppose the XBox comes with, you know, a mouse, or some other controller that would actually make a console FPS fun?)
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Half of them are sports clones. These are the games you'll see in 2 months in the bargain bin for $10. Why not just release the 4-5 decent games and have a stellar-rated lineup then filling up the shelves with crap?
Steve, is that you?
I read Slashdot for the articles
18 total games at launch. 14 of which are sequels. 15 unoriginal games if you count King Kong. Yet, people will still buy the roster updates in droves and reinforce the gaming industry's (mainly EA's) lust for easy cash from recycled crap. Though I definitely expect to see half of these games on ebay for $30 right after launch since they're forcing you to buy the games with the systems. New system and theres just 1-2 new and creative titles made for launch and the sequels aren't even adding anything new to the game like Mario 64 did for the n64 when it created the first 3d platformer, sequel yes, but at least something new.
FTA: "Official price points for games have also been released, and Microsoft Game Studios is cutting gamers a break on their three launch games (Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Kameo: Elements of Power). MGS-published games will retail for $49.99, and third-party games will sell for $59.99."
I really don't see how this is "cutting gamers a break." This is simply competitive pricing. MS is choosing to set a price that will increase sales on MSG games. Also, how will MS set the price on 3rd-party games? Seems shady to me.
Sure hope there's no retaliation by MS to retailers that want to offer a different price, say, $49.99 for third-party games, because that would be, you know, illegal.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The GameCube racing games are much better than the other consoles. The others could catch up if they stopped focusing on realistic-type racing. Yes there are fantasy racing games for the Playstation but the GameCube racing games blow them away IMO. It's all a matter of perspective. And for the record, I would rather play Gran Turismo than anything on Xbox, as far as realistic racing is concerned.
Couple hours at a kiosk. I call this game a 'magical Zelda' - same type of action/adventure/rpg with more based on magic.
It's halfway through the regular season! Madden 06 is dropping in price for the other consoles. Do they really expect to sell a lot of copies for the 360? I imagine anyone who really wanted Madden 06 already bought it for their current system. Generally, the only potential purchasers who don't buy it by the beginning of the season are waiting because they expect to pick it up cheap later on. I could understand the decision to put out Madden 64 midseason because there was no current year (98?) for the SNES and Madden 64 did legitimately add something the other systems (Saturn and Playstation) didn't have (3D instead of sprite-based). I don't see the 360 version of Madden 06 to be so far above the previous generation's version to merit the purchase.
Erm, Halo WAS an Xbox launch title. And Super Mario 64 is often praised to high heavens (but it was the last console of it's generation to launch).
But I agree, it's pretty rare for a truely original game to appear at launch. I kinda doubt many of the games are really destined to become long lasting classics. I'm kinda "meh" on most of them, but I do think Project Gotham 3 is certainley going to be solid (I loved PGR2), and Kameo sounds interesting. But I'm not that sure about say, Yet Another FPS, or Sports Game 2006 are going to appeal to me personally. But I'm mostly going by the titles, I don't really know enough about the games to make much of a judgement.
Not that I can afford an Xbox 360 at launch anyway, by the time I can afford it there will probably be a better selection of games. (If I choose the get an Xbox 360 of course).
10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
20 GOTO 10
Uh, Halo was an Xbox launch title. It was THE Xbox launch title. Aside from PGR1 it was pretty much the only game worth buying from the XBox launch, as I recall. Also, I think you meant to say give ALL THREE consoles time. People who act like this is a two horse race (and presumably discount Nintendo as a non-player) are in for a suprise, I think. Unless you mean to say give them both a chance to see which one gets to sit next the Revolution everyone buys for the unique first party games?
I'm going to get a 360 soon after launch and will probably only get two games, which will be plenty until more games come out, which they obviously will. Not everyone is going to go nuts over this launch line-up but some people will and a lot of people will be able to find at least a couple games to get excited about.
Feel free to mod me "-1 - Angry Jerk".
The only games listed above that didn't appear to be tied to an existing property or an existing game franchise were Kameo and Gun. I know it has been more noticeable recently in the current game market, but I worry that the next generation consoles (with their incredibly high budget games) will solidify the publishers' aversion to original titles. There is some truth to the saying, "if it's not broken, don't bother fixing it." But there is also truth in, "familiarity breeds contempt."
Come to think of it, it seems the game industry is suffering from the same ailment as all the other entertainment industries.
What's your case? What system do you think had a stellar launch/lineup?
Remember how many games the SNES opened with? The N64? the Playstation?
The gamecube had 12 launch titles.
I thought that MS was going to try and win over some gamers in Japan this time around... that lineup for launch will likely only perpetuate their being the but of jokes in Japan as none of that is going to sell a system or get people excited there.
~Necromutant