OK, I know what everyone is thinking but not saying, where are all the games? After a decent launch lineup and a whopping one title released between November 22nd and now, gamers everywhere are turning to classic Xbox titles and even more classic Arcade titles to keep them busy while they wait for new games to hit store shelves.
After playing through my classic Xbox library and having a few rounds with Geometry Wars I decided to download the demo of Fight Night Round 3 - what a surprise this game was. After playing through some of EA’s other coughed up remakes for the Xbox 360 I wasn’t too excited about this boxing game, however it was more than a few rounds of fun, and playing a game not yet released with one of your buddies is a true innovation from Xbox Live if I have ever seen one.
Unfortunately the only demo of a yet unreleased game is Fight Night, and that will only hold you over for so long. It has been just under a week now and my Xbox 360 is starting to collect dust. Should I throw this thing up on eBay? Did I waste four-hundred dollars on this 5 pound portable heater? Lucky for all of you that were early adopters of the newest console to hit the market, the answer is no to both those questions. It is true that there were only a couple of really well made launch titles and after beating those there may be little to be experienced that will help justify your big ticket purchase, but if there is anything this industry teaches us it is to be patient.
Video game delays are a dime a dozen these days so if anyone is surprised by the 3 month Xbox 360 game lapse that we are in the middle of right now I can only say that you are a newcomer to the world of video games. Microsoft has announced Street Fighter for the Xbox Live Arcade but the exact date of release for this classic beat-em-up is still yet to be defined.
Besides new Xbox Arcade titles to look forward to there is quite a list building up of original games that will be hitting our beautiful white gaming machine between Valentine’s Day and the end of April. Below are some of the games suspected to arrive in the US between now and the start of summer (please remember that release dates are subject to change without notice and often do).
- Full Auto – Feb. 21st
- College Hoops 2K6 – Feb. 21st
- Fight Night Round 3 – Feb. 23rd
- Moto GP 2006 – March 1st
- Saint’s Row – March 1st
- Blazing Angels – March 7th
- Tom Clancy’s GRAW – March 7th
- The Outfit – March 13th
- Burnout Revenge – March 14th
- Battlefield 2: M.C. – March 17th
- Elder Scrolls IV – March 20th
- TimeShift – March 21st
- Top Spin 2 – April TBA
- MLB 2K6 – April TBA
This list of 14 games that could be released in the next three months really proves what I said before; this console will not pay off unless people are willing to wait a few months before the great games start to arrive. Full Auto from SEGA is a great “Twisted Metal” like racing game that will surely see a lot of online play between bitter Xbox Live enemies wanting to blow each other up in high-definition glory. Electronic Arts makes a strong showing with Fight Night Round 3 and Burnout Revenge, and having played Fight Night I can personally say that it is a sure buy. Everyone wants another Burnout game and Revenge looks to be one hell of a sequel to last year’s Xbox game of the year. The next installment of the Elder Scrolls saga is also hitting the Xbox 360 this quarter and it will no doubt be one of the best games of the year. If you played “the Scrolls” on the original Xbox, or love RPG games, you don’t even need to ponder picking Oblivion up, preorder it now.
Lastly, the one game that I bought this system for is coming to store shelves very soon, that game being Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. This game looks amazing and will easily raise the bar on First Person Shooters to a new level. The gameplay looks to be very innovative, and if you have seen some movies or screenshots of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter then you will know what I am talking about when it comes to the graphics department.
One last thing I would like to see here in the States is games published from other countries, Enchant Arm anyone? I hope I helped ease your worries, even just a bit, about the future of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. I for one am not worried at all, see you online!
