uh meh, M$

i'll definitely be picking up Fable 2 and GoW2. Too Human looks like it could be promising as well.

EDIT: now that i'm looking at Too Human more closely, it looks alright. probably not something i'd be interested in.

I'm guessing a lot of the resources are being pumped into the end of year releases, along with the mysterious Halo: Chronicles (just look at the recruitment drive!), Alan Wake, Halo: Wars, Scene It 2, Ninja Blade and whatever they're up to with the "Newton" motion controls.

If they find time I'd love to see a new Kung Fu Chaos as the original was a great party title that the 360 desperately needs. Mech Warrior and Brute Force are nice properties but I don't know what you could do with them going forward that hasn't already been done.

If they pull off Halo: Wars on consoles then obviously Age of Empires and Age of Mythology will jump on the drawing board for consoles.

Kameo is a great platformer (as opposed to Galaxy's excellent), but Rare's damn busy at the moment and the market for platformers is not particularly enthusiastic. Perfect Dark will similarly go into temporary retirement at minimum.

As for Forza and PGR. Logically PGR should get a rest after the underwhelming sales of PGR4 but MS may feel differently. I suspect Forza 3 has been in the works for quite some time and is a pretty safe bet for 08/09.

Having said all the above, I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to see MGS move further away from shooters (which 3rd parties will fill) and focus increasingly on family friendly genres such as adventure, platforming, party, driving and sports. There will also be a major push in the online space that will see major changes to the dashboard and Live implementation, particularly the XNA community games feature. I also think they'll continue to push RPG and RTS development to broaden their offerings and to try and attract the PS2 and PC crowds respectively.

I would like to see something come out of Smith and Tinker. With the preference for either MechAssault or Crimson Skies. I'd really like to know what the former FASA guys are up to.

No matter what MS gaming division offer this year, I am sure there will be plenty of games to spend money either 1st or 3rd party. I certainly will pick up Too Human and Fable 2 when they get released later this year.

Wow. You guys actually stress over this stuff?

i would love a new brute force and Tao Feng game to come out on the 360.

They have 4-5 in house game devs and it shows. Look at their lineup for '08:

Gears2, NG2, Too Human, Fable2, Left4Dead, Banjo, Viva Pinata2

Really only 3 of these titles matter, Gears, NG, and Fable, 2 of which will be released on PC in the months to come.

Too Human looks like a Marvel Superheroes game - hack n slash rpg.

360 fans have resorted to hyping Banjo now, I find that sad. This game looks like its targeted at the same crowd as Viva Pinata - 3 yr olds. The original Banjo was a platformer that people of all ages could enjoy. This one looks so juvenile - from the overdone sound effects striaght out of a kiddie show to the nursery rhyme background music to the fischer price graphics.

PS3's lineup this year is a little better - The Agency, Socom, MGS4, LBP, Siren, Motorstorm2, Tekken 6.

And what does MS have for '09? A couple of delayed games such as Halo Wars(RTS CLONE) and Alan Wake(I'm beginning to question this games existence.) Maybe that new Halo game in Nov '09. Huxley also might come out, but from what I understand the gameplay is horrible. Plus MS has a bad track record when it comes to releasing MMO's for Consoles, this is the third one they've tried now.

Bioshock and MassEffect are going multiplatform. This is EA we're talking about. They already make more money of PS3 software sales.

The PS3 lineup for '09 puts 360 to shame, checkout these titles -

God of War 3(confirmed for march)
Final Fantasy 13
Killzone 2

Those titles alone will give whatever MS has a run for its money. Then you factor in the new Team Ico project, Eight Days, Heavy Rain, WarDevil, Infamous, Twisted Metal, The Getaway, etc. and your looking at a lineup that makes the '07 360 lineup look like childs play.

Now, E3 is a on the way and we can expect a few more games to be announced there, but I really can't see MS catching up to Sony and their 20+ in house devs. Sony has announced that they will be unveiling 2 more MMO's at E3, MS has been tight lipped.

hahahah lets the dony droids get comfort in his sony webiste it seems like when microsoft has shooters that out way the ps3 line ups the sony site crop up and say well they need mroe shooters in 2008 when microsfot has a stronger lineup they say microsfot is in trouble for 2009 hahaha didnt they say the same for 2008 and looks what happend sony exclsuive are a joke what mgs 4 what else ?

That list looks promising, but they still should of shelled out more cash to those devs that got taken by other companies.

Age of Empires and Flight Simulator should come out on 360

I think Microsoft changed their tactics at last year's E3. They are not interested in talking about games that are a year or two away, because they know Sony is doing that and when the game gets delayed, then there's a lot of flack. So last year at E3 they talked only about games that were shipping in 2007. And at this year's Gamer's Day they talked about games that are shipping in 2008.

So what's for 2009? They're not going to talk about it yet. They *might* give us some clue at E3, if there's anything that is an early '09 release, but otherwise they're going to wait until the product is within a 6-9 month launch window before they start hyping it.

While it is frustrating not to know what's coming, I like the strategy. I'm sick of being annoyed when a game slips out of its launch window (Killzone 2) because the publisher started hyping it too freakin' early.

I mean even last year, How many good games did they have? what? 5.
When I used to be a xbot i had my favorites when there was no competition.

Ghost recon was my first xbox 360 experience coming from a ps2. It was awesome.
Rainbow six was next after so many months of playing ghost recon. then ghost recon 2 but by this time I had spent too much money already on dlc for extra maps. Pretty cool but frustrating.
Gears of war was exciting, I mean C'mon it had a chainsaw! Halo 3 was a dissappointment I kept myself in denial about it.
Bioshock was a good story but it wasnt something that was revolutionary. Mass efect great story, ruined by squad a.i., glitches & graphics problems.
Thats It!

These games are not the best I ever played in all my 29 years. I had way more fun on a PS2. With the exeption of gears, Ive been there - done that on a ps2. Those games just had a fresh coat of paint thats it!

This year its even worse because they have nothing & Xbutts are excited about the stupidest games I ever heard of while downplaying other games. Xbutts are perfectly Happy with playing those same 5 games year aftr year as long as they can text message their boyfriend in-game. This is what they consider the best? Its Sad.

Whoa! Achievement Unlocked 50pts. Reality Checked A Xbutt!!!

...MS is playing it safe. Agree with dcbronco (bubble for you) that MS may be wary of all the money being spent, and after FINALLY turning a profit on the 360, they want to continue to solidify their position, especially when you consider that the 360 will be three years into its cycle. MS has had enough bad press with RRoD and the lack of a standardized HDD etc. They know that this year Sony has a lot of big guns and they are going to counter as best they can, but in a low-key fashion. Continued profit is the key. If they can stay even with PS3 while staying profitable, a successor to the 360 is guaranteed....

I agree with WitchKing , I think they are trying to keep customer complaints to a minimum. Delays are definitely one of the biggest problems going right now. There have been articles over the last year or so that mentioned a few games possibly being worked on that hadn't been announced. One is a new MechAssault, one is a new Crimson Skies and the last is a true next-gen Forza. Forza 2 was really just 1 with better graphics. By this Christmas season they will have had a year and a half to work on it. Since they already had most of the physics in place they just need to tweak it and make next-gen graphics. Crimson is overdue and so is MechAssault.

@ the people on this thread. Thank you for what has been a grown up conversation so far. I was beginning to wonder if it was possible anymore.

A round of bubbles on me.

the 360 is perfectly fine especially in game sales

all this talk of
- mech assault
- crimson skies
- midtown madness
has me salivating at the thought. those were some of my faves from last gen!!!

They had announced a while back that Forza3 should be coming out spring of 2009. Can't wait for that one!!

but yeah, hype has definatly killed some of the games. I was excited for GTA, but I did not get caught up in the hype. So when the game came out, it was just about what i expected. a not so perfect game, but a whole heck lot of fun!!!

just like Sony and Nintendo did, MSneed to strengthen their Gaming Divisions. (Acquire/Build/Open)

These days, with the rising cost of Gaming Productions, there are going to be very few 3rd-Party Exclusives, console developers can ride on, a whole generation. Those days are OVER.

MS seem to be relying on 3rd-party Devs for some of it's top hits but like some "may say", why pay so much money or EXTRA money for "timed Exclusives"" or 2 installments of some franchises, if the competition might get the 3rd or that same game later on, down the line?

Ms needs to cement its name under some of it's own games. Halo(the shooter) seems to be over, which has been their biggest seller..What's next Ms?

Do like Sony get them Studios rolling and offer some slack for creativity to thrive.

Another Halo.
There's Alan Wake, Project Offset, Huxley, Too Human, etc.
I am a PS3 fan but I really admire these games especially Project Offset which is confirmed to be PC only.

thats the real question!!!

I would say suicide for not being able to live with that awful penalty miss!!!

PS3+Manchester United FTW!!!

Compared to last years line up. MS has really dropped the ball