Xbox 360

Xbox 360

Microsoft got a year’s head start on its rivals with the launch of the Xbox 360 back in November 2005. The launch suffered from shortages for the first few months but it looks like for this fall/holiday buying season that it won’t be a problem picking one up at your local retailer and Microsoft is counting that the availability of the Xbox 360 will help them out when some people won’t be able to get a PS3 or Wii. The Xbox 360 exclusive titles are few this holiday season but they are pretty major.


Gears of War: Epic Games bring their long awaited Xbox 360 exclusive third person action game this November. With pretty brutal sci-fi gameplay (a chainsaw inside your gun should give you an idea), this game got everyone excited when they played the eight-player multiplayer mode at E3. Will it live up to the hype? (November 12)

Forza Motorsport 2: Microsoft’s internally developed racing sim comes back for a second outing, this time for the Xbox 360 platform. The original game made lots of people say “Gran what?” with its extensive customization features and online multiplayer. This sequel will likely look better, have more gameplay options and more multiplayer online features. (November)

Viva Pinata: Microsoft attempts to break into the kid’s gaming market with this title developed by Rare that will also be the subject of a Saturday morning’s kid show this fall. It’s a game akin to Pokemon in that players are encouraged to create an environment inside the game world to attract the various Pinata creatures. (November)

Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2: For all the males who are reading this..you have pretty much stopped reading and started thinking about the girls in this game haven’t you? Tecmo bring their “volleyball” game to the Xbox 360 for the second outing. (November)

Of course the Xbox 360 will also have a number of other third party games that will appear or have appeared previously on other platforms this fall. One notable game is the pro wrestling title WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 which will come out for the Xbox 360 exclusively among the next-gen consoles (there will be PS2 and PSP versions). Look for the Xbox Live Vision camera to be released in mid-September that will have some gameplay features like adding faces for selected games. And of course Xbox Live Arcade will have a number of new fall releases every Wednesday. While Microsoft hasn’t revealed their entire fall schedule yet we are hoping to see Lumines Live, Ultimate Mortal Kombat and RoboBlitz get released for Arcade this fall.