The Year Ahead: Xbox 360 Gaming in 2008

2007 may have been a banner year for the industry, but because of the fierce holiday competition, many games were pushed back into the slower calendar months by nervous publishers. Because of this, on top of the already-planned '08 releases, next year is looking to be nearly as strong.

And while PC gaming may not be dead, console gaming shows no sign of letting up. Here's a look at the Xbox 360 releases for the next 12 months, a host of sequels and remakes and original titles. Check them all out and mark your gaming calendars.

[Hapimeses]

That's a pretty strong array of titles, although the exclusives look a little weak. Does anyone know if there are any rumoured, unannounced projects that could bolster that lineup?

[TheMART]

I don't know how you view games, but:

Ninja Gaiden 2
Halo Wars
Fable 2
Too Human
Alan Wake
Splinter Cell: Conviction

and the one not in here, but surely coming:

Gears of War 2 at Christmas 2008

Already sound like pretty strong exclusives to me. And I'm pretty sure there will be more. Those alone already though will cost some good bucks

[allatain]

I don't think they can do GOW2 in 2008, its too early and too fast a push ESP after they just did UT3. I don't want to play a half baked game, I would actually prefer to wait till 2009 if they can recreate the game in a way that parallels the original

[Hapimeses]

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about GoW2, that does make a difference. The first game was a good laugh.

And I wasn't saying the exclusive line-up doesn't have quality next year -- it clearly does -- I was simply suggesting that, to my eye, it looked a little weak when compared to the alternatives.

However, as I said, the complete line-up looks pretty strong, and will be enough to keep any gamer happy for the year.

[TheMART]

@ allatain

So why could Epic get UT3 out one year after Gears of War released then?
They know the engine now, they can do it. Furthermore, Gears will probably at least be a trilogy, they will want to get those 3 parts on the 360 within the total life span of about 7 years. In that logic, Gears of War 3 will be released in 2010 at latest 2011. It's like this: It's about the biggest IP's as holidays system seller. Christmas 2006 had Gears 1, Christmas 2007 has Halo 3/Mass Effect, Christmas 2008 will have Gears 2, Christmas 2009 will have Halo 4, Christmas 2010 will have Gears 3. And ofcourse some of those games still in development that'll add like Mass Effect did this year. But still those main hitters will be out for sure.

[Panthers]

im pretty sure UT3 was in the works before GoW released. They showed it at E3 a while back (1-2 yrs)

They are still working on UT3 for the 360 so I doubt GoW2 will be out, but who knows. Maybe they have been working on that too for a while.

[PS3n360]

I think ms will or at least should push epic to get the 3rd installment of gears on the next xbox. That would be a guaranteed system seller. I know I would buy it, what a way to launch a console with a heavy hitter. As long as they didnt run into supply issues. What do you think?

[salgoods]

but I see no system sellers. At all

[allatain]

dude thats exactly what I mean, I love the graphics in UT3 but honestly I can't get over the gameplay, it just isn't as paced as it was in the original, it just takes to long to get around maps sometimes, it can feel a little cramped for movement or space for shooting, in the other UT games, you feel like you have mobility, its like they gave up gameplay for graphics, the game is still good, just can't get over the loss of gameplay

[Bubble Buddy]

So hard to find a great game with no sequel or trilogies now...all cause of the cash. cough cough Mario.

[Lord2008]

Still no Dead Rising 2 god i want a sequel to that SOOOOOOOOOOO BAD, and am i the only 360 owner who hates Ninja Gaiden.

[salgoods]

count? i hated ninja gaiden on that as well

[InMyOpinion]

I hated it at first cause I found it to be extremely difficult. But I gave it some time and started realising how you're supposed to play it and then it got much more enjoyable.

[felidae]

the 360's games are just .... COLD!

no diversity in games ... all the same.

now the ps3 has enough games to choose from and there are much more diverse games than on the 360. plus multiplatform games are starting to look really better on the ps3.

so who cares about the xbox 36zzzz ZZZ zzzz

[Bladestar]

That's what you all say about 2007... wow.. all the PS3 games... mmm... the xbox 360 is dead in 2007... and xbox 360 games are still b!tch slapping the PS3 games... The PS3 had a Shock and Awe in terms of games during 2007.. Bomba all over the place compared to xbox 360 games... mmm you think the xbox 360 will not do the same in 2008? why? because the PS3 can't get any worst? mmm.. yeah... every body though the same about 2007. it didn't happen.

[waldopepper]

Did you read the article? Every type of game I can think of except platform is on the up and coming list for 2008 for the 360:

GTA IV - sandbox third person adventure
Lost Odessey - RPG
Tom Clancy's EndWar - RTS
Silent hill V - survival horror
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - FPS
Brutal Legend - third person action adventure
Ninja Gaiden 2 - action adventure hack and slash
Battlefield Bad Company - FPS
UT3 - FPS
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution - RTS
Condemed 2 - FPS
World In Conflict - RTS/FPS
Halo Wars - RTS
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - FPS?
Culdcept Saga - board game/collectable
Fable 2 - RPG
Too Human - third person fighter/RPG
Soul Calibur IV - fighting
Fallout 3 - FPS/RPG
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction - stealth em up
Alan Awake - adventure
Burnout Paradise - driving
Left 4 dead - survival horror
Borderlands - RPG/FPS
Ghostbusters - ?
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - tactical shooter
Turok - FPS
Rage - FPS
Devil May Cry 4 - hack and slash

[R M Spender]

what ps3 games? ff or metal gear? gt? great....thats about it, big deal. bet they make metal gear for xbox anyway. tekken is one that iam jealous for but you gotta be nuts to think ps3 is a better console and most of you ps3 freaks on here are as far as i can tell from your comments. you all got ripped off.

[nanometric]

goes down the hill

[Salvadore]

The 360 line-up might not be as strong as 07, but it still looks great and we don't know if MS has anything wrapped up under its sleeve (Banjo or GOW2).
I don't really see the need for people bashing 360's line-up or any other consoles line up.

[Panthers]

I dont see any reason to bash either, but people sure do love to. Go to a PS3 story and take a look. Tons of bashing

[navig8or]

The potential for PS3 in undeniable by even the most blind fanboy, but, do not deny Alan Wake, Too Human etc.. The X360 does have many games for2008, many I'm sure like BioShock which we won't hear too much about till they are ready...I do not doubt that PS3 is going to have some killer apps, but so is X360, this is going to be fun :)

[tony]

project offset, warhound, borderlands ,and alan wake. i think that's pretty good.

[Igniter]

Can't believe they missed Project Origin, the sequel to FEAR.

[The Chief of Mjolnir]

What? Shame on them! Project Origin looks awesome.

And I don´t care if most of these games are multiplat, I can still play them.

[ygxbrayzie]

hope Infinite Undiscovery is release in 2008 too
but man can't wait for ninja gaiden 2

[Bladestar]

"The potential for PS3 in undeniable by even the most blind fanboy" you are right.. the "pontential"... that's what Lair, Encharted, R&C were all potential.. and they flopped in terms of sales compared to any xbox 360 game. The xbox 360 do not need "potential" those games know are comming for the xbox 360.. we know will be AAA.. because so far the xbox 360 games are delivering... fact.

and yes you talk about Metal Gear and other games.. that can push sales... but remember.. Microsoft can simply release 1 game (Gears 2 for example).. and sells 2 million copies in 1 day... compared to what Metal Gear would have to do 1 million in 1 day.. something that never happened before for that franchise...

I'm not talking about assumptions here.. I'm talking about facts... Gears 2 based on the previous game.. will piss all over anything any PS3 game in 08 in terms of sales...

And the Mart has a great point, "So why could Epic get UT3 out one year after Gears of War released then?".... explain that?

[salgoods]

because gears didnt sell 1 million in one day or in two days so taht is a hefty assumption you are making there buddy. GT5, MGS, Final Fantasy. ever heard of those? look at past numbers, do you mean to tell me there is a 360 game coming in 2008 tht even has a chance in hell at selling like these games will? and a game not named Gears of War 2.

[PS3n360]

xbox is going to have its work cut out for it. Strangely PS3 games dont seem to sell. there seems to be a lack of marketing reaching my demographic(30's). Both sony and ms seem to be targeting a much younger generation and I am not sure thats working. They also need to keep the marketing steady not just a little blast here and there when a game is released. Uncharted is the best looking game I have ever played the story is well developed and OMFG ineresting, character development is done really well over the course of the game, I could go on and on but were I am going is that why arent people buying it? Its my game of the year at least.

[salgoods]

as opposed to what? 360 games? unfair comparison considering the 360 has almost double the install base.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DO A HARDWARE TO SOFTWARE RATIO FOR ALL SYSTEMS SO AT LEAST THAT ARGUMENT CAN BE PUT TO REST...ON BOTH SIDES.

Lets get some percentages. what percentage of PS3 owners bought Ratchet, uncharted, resistence, warhawk, etc. and what percentage of 360 owners bought mass effect, halo 3, bioshock, gears, etc.

[Lucreto]

Don't forget the PS3 price. It is still expensive and people would buy one or two games and wait a few months for more money to come in.

360 has passed that stage and people are buying games. It is unfair to look at the attach rate with a year difference. Take note on what the 360 is now and compare it to PS3 next year.

[salgoods]

know the difference in a great game and a system seller, i have nothing else to say. Because those listed 360 games are going to be good to great games...only

[n4gTurnsU_WickedGay]

in 08 the 360 has 25 multi-platform games and 6 "exclusives". and i used "" because half are also available on the pc, sorry but pc is another platform. if you don't have to have a 360 to play it, it is not exclusive.

so, for me personally, there are 2 games that are 360 exclusive that i may want to play at some point next year. wow, the money i spent on my Elite was well spent.

[N4Flamers]

well the pc isn't a console. I mean no one counts the PC in a console war, but if we did it with 20 million desktops sold in October alone I guess it just won. SO I guess they're console exclusives not platform exclusives.

[jalutaja]

SW/HW Tie Ratios:

PS3 4.01
Wii 3.86 (not including Wii Sports)
360 6.85
And Uncharted bombed very much (i personally like this game). If X360 had a small userbase, all of his hits make top ten in us.

[wageslave]

Games? For the Xbox 360? In 2008?

NO! WAY! I heard from all the PS3 fansboys on N4G that there werent games for Xbox 360 in 2008!

This cant be accurate. No way man... no way..

[wageslave]

I think the author may have overlooked Banjo-Kazooie 3.

It was shown in 06, it should be getting near finished for 08 (assuming a kinda standard 2-3 yrs per game...)

[Covenant]

Anyone who says that the 360 has nothing to offer after this fall's killer lineup of titles should take a long look at this.

One question: Where's Banjo-Kazooie? Pushed to '09, I'll bet. Darn.

[iNcRiMiNaTi]

ill prolly get only around 7-10

GTA4 will probably be the game to take up most of my time..that and rainbow6 vegas online..r6v is my fave online game next to CoD4

[TwissT]

Alan Wake and Fable 2 are the games I am keeping an eye on, but I really want to see how they take Halo and make it RTS

[Dr Pepper]

I think it will make a pretty good transition to an RTS, seeing as how that was the original plan for it before it became a FPS. I'm looking forward to EndWar more than Halo Wars though. Using voice command sounds awesome.

[Tyrael]

If 3/4 of the great games coming out next year are multiplatform, then all of you cunt licking doooochebags who talk about the 360 or PS3 dominating the other should donate your consoles to poor kids who will appreciate them more

[ROCCOZILLA]

prepare to get stomped by the PS3 from this point on.remember that the 360 is just a toy like the wii not a machine like the PS3.JUMP OUT NOW!

[The Chief of Mjolnir]

Stomped by what? The PS3? Nah...

I don´t care if the 360 got few exclusives. I can still play the multiplatforms. It´s not like this: "Oh, that game is for all consoles, it´s not exclusive. Well, then I can´t play it."

Get a life, dude.

[jinn]

this will be bigger than 2007