XBox 360 Launch List
Yeah I have your launch list right here bub. After a lot of expectation on the part of X05 attendees that a concrete launch list would be released, all they got was an evasive answer of 15 to 20 games ready for launch. Eight games were confirmed: Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero, Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Kameo: Elements of Power, and FIFA 06: Road to the World Cup.
Thanks the intrepid investigators at Reuters, who compiled all the confirmations and rumours for them individual game developers into one nice list, we have a better idea of what the heck is going on. Now why Microsoft couldn’t have just told us is something I guess I’m just not meant to understand.
Take-Two: NBA 2K6, NHL 2K6, tennis game Top Spin 2, snowboarding game Amped 3 and RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Activision: World War II game Call of Duty 2, action game Quake 4, extreme sports title Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland and the western-themed GUN.
Electronic Arts Inc.: racing game Need for Speed Most Wanted, soccer title FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, basketball game NBA Live 06, golf game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and Madden NFL 06 the latest installment of its popular football game.
Microsoft this week did confirm that the action-adventure game Kameo: Elements of Power and the much-anticipated shooting game Perfect Dark Zero both from company-owned developer Rare, will be shipping at launch.
Project Gotham Racing 3 from independent game studio Blizzard Creations also should be available, Microsoft said.
The Good
Project Gotham Racing 3 looks marvelous. I love racing games. Love the Need for Speed series. So I’m looking forward to both of these titles with a good deal of anticipation.
I’m curious about Kameo: Elements of Power. I haven’t really heard much about it over all of the EA 06 sports empire spam, but it looks like it could be the most unique title in a release list full of sequels. Curiosity is a good thing.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion I’d pick up without a second thought. Yeah, I’m all about the armour baby.
I’m a bit of a footie fan, so seeing a football title on the launch list makes me feel all warm and tingly. Unfortunately I’m more likely to be interested in Premiership or Champions League (ie. club teams) play and not the national team playdowns of FIFA.
The Bad
Perfect Dark Zero is being slashed in the jiggly bits in order to get it ready in time for launch. Several of it’s more vaunted features have been axed, and it has been getting a lukewarm reception since access to screenshots and videos has widened. Why not just perfect the game and make it the stunning creation it had the ability to be? No one will care that it’s not available the day of launch if it’s as spectacular as it was supposed to be. In fact it might serve to keep sales up after the initial buying frenzy of launch day passes.
Project Gotham Racing 3 should be ready for launch. Not is, not definitely will be, but should. They’ve pumped a lot of hype into this game, and like I said, I’m very much looking forward to it. Shame if it couldn’t be wrapped in time.
The Just Plain Annoying
Okay so out of the 8 titles actually confirmed by Microsoft half of them are the spawn of annual sports franchises from EA? I wanted to see some real creativity, real ingenuity, real variety. If you expect me to dish out hundreds of dollars for this new system only to give me the same tired old games over and over, I might have a tendency to feel a little ripped off. Oh and you can spout that same tired tune about them being improved games because of new technological capabilities but at the end of the day, better graphics or no, they’re the same darn game.
Out of the 17 titles dug up by Reuters, 9 of them are unequivocally sports titles. Enough said.
I really don’t know what to think. There are some great titles here that I’m really looking forward to trying, but on the whole, I do believe that I’m a little underwhelmed. Not completely disappointed by any stretch, just not as blown away as I was hoping for.
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4 opinions for XBox 360 Launch List
Matt
Oct 8, 2005 at 4:39 am
Ugh. Sports games? I don’t even consider those real games. That entire game list looks unimpressive to me and there’s not a single thing on there that piqued my interest. What a joke.
Karine
Oct 8, 2005 at 5:22 am
Yeah there’s not much in that list that ’sells’ the new console. Especially if some of those games are going to be available for the regular xbox - at a cheaper price at that.
That said, the one game I’m totally excited about is Top Spin 2. It might be because I haven’t actually ever played the first one - but the video for it definitely blew me away.
Oblivion also looks awseome. I’m looking to see if it allows coop and is made mode console friendly than the Elder Scrolls III, before I make my opinion, though.
Jeremy Wright
Oct 9, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Top Spin, PGR3, Tony Hawk, Perfect Dark and Elements of Power are all on my “buy when system launches” list.
To me this is a decent launch lineup. Better than any launch lineup I remember. It’s not as good as Microsoft said it’d be (30-50 games was the estimate at E3, wasn’t it?). I hate when companies do that.
But, 15-20 games is still the largest lineup ever, and the number of original games is fair enough.
My hope is that the 360 will stretch it’s muscles in the next 3-6 months, start having more unique games, etc. The reality, though, is that most of the best games these days are cross-platform. Only a handful each year are released exclusively (that are any good). In many ways this is good, as we can pick the best platform for each of us. In many ways it sucks, though, as then all we’re deciding on is the platform.
I remember the days when the choice of system mattered. I remember when I could only afford 1 system, and it was a huge deal. NES. SNES. Genesis. Saturn. N64. Dreamcast. XBox. XBox 360.
I’ve owned other consoles, but those were my primary consoles at each jump. And the choice of those over others MATTERED.
Now it’s only 10-20 games per year that are different, and only 5-6 of those are actually any good.
So, I’m more comfy with the new 360 controller than I’ve ever been with a Sony controller. And I love Live. So hopefully I’ll be happy :|
Onik khan
Dec 29, 2005 at 12:59 pm
Wow talk about impressive games xbox 360 its the game tech generation many people say that sony is better than microsoft but disagree microsoft is the starter of online and any 3-d games. sony followed along and sony making some hits but xbox 360 will be the new regime to the game technology on online enabled play. Xbox 360 will beat ps3 because its relisticall graphics and other features. One thing that i must critesize about the opponent playstation 3 is about its awfull and pure ugly desighn on its controllers. Xbox 360 will beat its opponent in: features, desighn, online enability, games and over play and sold people still might disagree with me but hey thats ur opnion and u can post it up. Oh yea heres a lil tip that only few people now about the new portable console the X.P.P xbox portable play. This will be the portable version of the 360 and it has the advanced features of the psp the xpp will have a lil bigger screen and will have wireless online play. Yes this is bigger tahn psp. this new wasn’t supposed to be released untill nesy year but hey i got my ways to get tips like this. Also a new feature in the xpp is connect paly this means you and ur other friend can play against each other with to xpp or the new duo controller port that lets tou play 1 against on eon the xpp using a normal xbox and 360 controller hooked up to the xpp than hook the xpp to ur t.v. Wow isn’t this amazing Bill gates quotes “This will be the advanced form of any portable console” the game sof the xpp will be the same games for the 360 but with new added features. Another feature of the xpp is the basic harddrive in cluded and its the size of the psp but a lil widder because of the larger screen and microsoft has allowed songs from online and even online chatting with opponet with hed set. it also includes a camera, media player,movie player such as movies on ur computer can be loaded in to the xpp with a usb cord and it also allows you to video record up to 40 min. The xpp also allows you to email or send or receive files with ur xbox online account. the xbox portable play was quated by Bill gates and co-worker Ron Megz ” The xpp is a mini computer,laptop and xbox that is mainly focused in games but with extra features”. The graphics are like the 360 but with more focus because of its size. The X.P.P is the new generation of portable play. And will come out in the winter of 2007 or earlier the christmas of 2006! thats all the new i got for Xbox Portable Play thx for reading and please do reply. And bill gates wants to say ” thanks xbox supporters”
By: Onik mehedi sultan khan the GameFaq!
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