Hints at the Future of the Xbox 360 Emerge

CES has brought out quite a bit of news, for subjects across the tech industry. The future of the Xbox 360 seems to a subject Microsoft can't talk enough about. Gates' keynote touched on new media partnerships for Live Marketplace, like the collaboration with Disney/ABC. A post-keynote email to several games writers noted that 2008 will be the company's year to capitalize on strong hardware and software sales from the holiday season, and that several as-yet-unannounced exclusive 360 titles are in the works. Fans of the platform might still have some anxiety this year; a rumour on the 1up site indicates Microsoft is already working on a game for the next-next-gen console to bear the Xbox name.

Fill in the lineup gaps

[Sciros]

The 360 would benefit a bit from filling in gaps that other consoles currently do. Sure, it can't release a "Wii Sports" kind of title but there are certain genres in which it's quite weak and doesn't have to be.

One is fighting games. These are really popular despite not really having "progressed" much in something like a decade (even more for some subgenres). Don't give fans a sub-par Guilty Gear and a Dead or Alive and leave it at that. Give folks a *solid* 2D fighter. A Smash Bros competitor couldn't hurt, either, since as fantastic as that series is, it's all too easy to improve on.

Another is JRPGs. Even Americans play these, believe it or not (duh, PS2 RPGs sell brilliantly here after all), and you don't need to be a Japanese developer to whip these up. You just need good art direction and the rest will fall into place assuming the combat system isn't a total disaster. One shoddy attempt with Dragonball Z character design doesn't cut it.

Thirdly, where are the platformers? We got Kameo early on, but that's it! I know Rare can't be bothered to make many games anymore, but there are certainly other developers that can be asked to do the job.

The way things are now are good enough for the 360, but I would rather see less of a total saturation of shooters and rubbish racing games and a bit more diversity in the upcoming game lineup.

Re:Fill in the lineup gaps

[dj_tla]

For JRPGs, I would suggest Eternal Sonata [wikipedia.org]. Wonderful music, visuals, and gameplay that JRPG fans will find familiar but still interesting. I haven't finished it, but so far I've been very happy with it.

Mass Effect [wikipedia.org] is also amazing. It's North American, but I think it still appeals to fans of JRPGs.

For platformers, The Simpsons Game [wikipedia.org] is surprisingly decent. The real strength of the game is its humourous writing, but platformer fans should similarly find the gameplay familiar but still interesting. Give it a try if you haven't yet.

I'm not saying that I don't want to see more games in these categories, but there are some already, and they shouldn't be overlooked.

Re:What???

[TubeSteak]

You can practically guarantee that the 360 has, at the very least, 3 more years of life before Microsoft decides to replace it.

I imagine it'll be much longer than 3 years.

Remember all the fuss when MS launched the Xbox360 and everyone complained that they'd kicked off the next gen of consoles too early just to gain some market share?

The result has been poorly utilized processing power in the Xbox360 and PS3 because there wasn't enough lead time for developers. I don't think anyone really wants that to happen again.