The Electronic Entertainment Exposition is right around the corner, as the struggle for supremacy reaches its pinnacle in this generation of console wars, the watershed of exclusive content reaches an all time high. Keeping this in mind the three mighty competitors have decided to pledge their best foot forward to keep their core audiences enticed with a plethora of games and peripherals that will be crucial in deciding the worth of the very console we own.
As we divulge into this vortex of intricacies, it’s a worthy mention that emerge as the crowned victor in these wars, this show will perhaps prove a crucial turning point, for 2009 onwards heavy speculation of the next generation would have already begun.
Microsoft had an early start in this generation and maintained their supremacy in balancing out their bunch of titles during the last few years. Their heavy hitters were on time and lived within everyone’s expectations, but this year seems a bit dreary for Microsoft with Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 leading Microsoft’s lineup at this year’s E3 and Too Human, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Forza 3 bring up the rear, giving the machine a balanced outlook, but failing to impress when put in stacked up against its closest competitor.
The reason to own a Microsoft Xbox 360 has reduced significantly since their entire exclusive lineup for 2008 suffers heavily from a grey hound syndrome, barring Banjo Kazooie which aims at refining the genre of platform gaming. But this itself is a major risk for Rare, as the company has not produced a commercially viable title since its demise from Nintendo.
Exclusives also seemed to have dried out for Microsoft, the Xbox 360 at the beginning of the wars heavily banked on third party exclusives to maintain its supremacy over its competition. But with the global economic crisis reaching it most gruesome form, all publishers are running helter skelter by bringing out every game on every god damn machine on the planet, leaving the Xbox 360 in a bit of shallow water.
It would actually be wise for Microsoft to showcase some brand new IP’s that it has been working on for a couple of years now. Alan Wake being one of them, Microsoft has decided to keep this title under wraps since X06 leading to violent speculation about this game’s untimely demise. It utilizes a fresh perspective in the genre of story telling and sandbox technology, giving it an edge over a bunch of mundane third person titles in the market.
Splinter Cell Conviction was stripped back to the drawing board so that it could effectively compete with Ubisoft’s own protégé Assassin’s Creed, with the humungous success of Metal Gear Solid 4, it would be worthy to see Microsoft’s own stealth agent rake in a couple of accolades.
Project Offset also touted to be one of Microsoft uber title has been missing for quite sometime, there was a lot of buzz about the technology powering the game but ever since it vanished from the news arena, people have heard vague instances that have made the Xbox 360 supporting public a little disappointed.
Halo has always been Microsoft’s USP, although the series hit the bull’s eye when it came the hype syndrome, it lacked substance to make it a classic, and Microsoft’s gamble of taking the series into a new direction may seem a worthy price in restoring the honor and valor of the franchise that it once shone in. Peter Jackson’s Halo might be the antidote the doctor ordered, Halo Wars may take this game to a whole new direction but the control scheme is still a bone of contention for a lot of people.
Rare is also rumored to be working on two more games, one of which was shown off as a concept art a couple of months ago, the other is rumored to be Killer Instinct III. Both games have tremendous potential and it would seriously be wise on Microsoft’s part to introduce these elements of anticipation into its gaming machine.
Microsoft has to make a desperate impact at E3 this year to win over its loyalists and competition alike and it seems they are leaving no stone unturned by pumping the show with everything including the kitchen sink thrown in. Price cuts, new peripherals (a Blu-ray equipped system with a larger hard drive and the motion control device), and a better equipped version of Xbox Live to take Sony’s HOME head on.
14th July is the battle ground where Microsoft proves its worth. The Xbox 360 needs to make it lineup as attractive as ever since both the PS3 and Wii are moving at a spectacular rate and are threatening to overtake its market share in the next few months.
- By Neelesh Mukherjee