Top Xbox 360 pre-E3 lineup Part 2: what’s the most anticipated and what’s not
Yesterday I put up part 1 in our Xbox 360 pre-E3 lineup, talking about blockbuster games such as Gears of War 2, Fable II, as well as among others like Left 4 Dead and Too Human. If you missed it check out part 1 before you continue read part 2.
In part 2 we go down the list nearing the bottom of the barrel and discuss games such as Viva Piñata, Tales of Vesperia, Banjo-Kazooie and Halo Wars.
5. Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise – September 2008
The Good: Viva Piñata is the poster child of casual gaming for Microsoft. They talk about Viva Piñata whenever journalist ask a Microsoft big wig about the lack of casual gaming on the Xbox 360.
Viva Piñata is actually an interesting game no matter how much your friends may ridicule you for having this game. This game has everything sex, greed, violence and inbreeding, everything there for a dramatic TV show.
The first game did fairly decent, receiving overall 8/10 across the board. Also managed to sell a bit over a million units, not too shabby when you consider just about everyone who owns an Xbox 360 is a hardcore fan. I predict the sequel will do just as well.
The Bad: Well, as I have said above considering the vast majority of 360 owners are hardcore gamers this game will most likely not have blockbuster sales nor come close to it, which is pretty unfortunate.
6. Tales of Vesperia – 
August 2008
The Good: Out of all the JPRGs Microsoft is hyping and throwing their exclusive money at, Tales of Vesperia is the one that is being pushed the most. Microsoft seems to think this game will be a system seller even creating a bundle exclusive to Japan where consumers can get an Xbox 360 bundled with this game. Tales of Vesperia looks like a great game with graphics on par with japanese anime movies.
Namco Bandai is a big name in the JRPG world as with a long and great history of making JRPGs. You can expect a great RPG with beautiful graphics and a compelling story from this game.
The Bad: I’m still a bit skeptical if Microsoft is doing the right thing putting all of their eggs in one bag by spending all of their exclusive dollars on these JRPGs just so they can win over the Japanese consumers. Some may even see this goal as futile, no matter what Microsoft does.
Also there has yet to be a JPRG on the Xbox 360 that has been successful, which is also a bit worrying. Enchanted Arms did a measly 140k, sold less than the PS3 version, also Eternal Sonata another game made by Namco Bandai only sold a bit better with 250k worldwide.
Maybe JRPGs just don’t have a home on the Xbox 360?
7. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts – November 2008
The Good: Banjo-Kazooie is back, and on Microsoft’s system now! It’s about time Rare finally put something out after what, like a 10 year hiatus?
Maybe it took them this long to make this game hmm…
This game looks interesting with a ‘build and customize your vehicle’ option out of the box, and a new and unique concept where you platform via vehicles.
The Bad: When I heard the only way to platform in the game is via vehicles I was sorely disappointed. I can’t seem to fathom why they would change up the great formula of traditional platforming to just vehicle platforming. I have a feeling this game will not fare so well in the market. Early impressions from journalists have been negative so far on this game, we shall wait and see how it fares after launch.
8. Halo Wars – October 2008
The Good: It has the name Halo in it. It seems like anything with the name Halo might sell decently. It may very well have something to do with Microsoft’s brain washing campaign at 7 Eleven with the Halo slurpees.
The fact this game will have some story elements taking place in the Halo Universe makes it a tempting pickup.
The Bad: It’s an RTS (Real Time Strategy). No, don’t get me wrong I’m not bashing RTS games, I just know they do extremely poorly on consoles. I would love to get my hands on Starcraft II as much as the next bloke, but RTS games don’t seem to have much of a home on the home game console.
Some would argue the controls are not plausible considering there is no mouse and keyboard support for Xbox 360, and who wants to play with their keyboard and mouse sitting on their couch anyway?
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars 3 and Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth both highly anticipated Xbox 360 RTS games also did poorly in sales after launch.
Conclusion:
So in conclusion the first place for the most anticipated game of the year goes to Gears of War 2 (no brainer) and the last place goes to Halo Wars. There will be those that may out right protest and say Halo Wars will sell million’s but think about it for a second, it’s an RTS on a home console, just let it sink in for a bit.
Also stay tuned for our pre-E3 lineup for the PS3 and the Wii coming soon.
Honorable mentions:
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction -
Will this game ever get released? It moved from a November 2007 release date, to beginning of 2008 release date, and now moved to the end of 2008 to 2009. It seem’s this game is in ‘development hell.’
The first Splinter Cell game released on Xbox and PS2 back around 2003 did very well selling over 2 million units each. However that’s where the good news ends with each new Splinter Cell game sales have declined. The latest iteration of Splinter Cell: Double Agent barley sold a million units on both Xbox 360 and PS3 combined.
It remains to be seen if Conviction will help Splinter Cell make a come back with much skepticism.
Ninja Gaiden 2 -
Ninja Gaiden 2 is a recently launched Xbox 360 exclusive game. Microsoft really hyped this game with TV spots running constantly and magazine adverts. Even with the hype machine in full force this game failed to generate as much sales as Microsoft had hoped for.
Thus far Ninja Gaiden 2 has sold 350k, almost comparable to PS3’s Ninja Gaiden Sigma which sold 380k units. It’s probably safe to say Ninja Gaiden has a fan following on both platforms PS3 and Xbox 360, a decent amount on both systems combined but this game can’t seem to sustain on a single platform alone.
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34 Responses to “Top Xbox 360 pre-E3 lineup Part 2: what’s the most anticipated and what’s not”
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June 25th, 2008
No gamez.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
June 25th, 2008
Im a little confused… so Halo Wars hass less hype than Viva Pinata and Banjo?? REALLY??
I though anything Halo would be hype tastic… the problem is… well in my opinion… Halo Wars looks like a gamble.. the Halo series has been about intense action.. along with a good storyline… RTSs usually arent intense… atleast not as intense as FPSs… and with the Red Alert 3 coming up… it has tough competitions… and I have a tough time imagining playing it with a joystick…
I though Ninja Gaiden 2 would sell like a billion copies in a week… damn… hopefully the creator will now make games for other consoles as well *hint* *hint*
THe first part was good…. this one is meh…
The first part showed that 360 has more than enough good games to give the PS3 and Wii a tough time this year…
FLAME ON!!!
Ohh and could we get a similar article like this for the PS3 and the Wii??
June 25th, 2008
Good article, Xbox 360 is dead those game suck Microsoft can’t make games is a proven fact. The only way Microsoft can sell Xbox brand product is by over hype with out hype no one cares. Sony PLAYSTATION 3 is destroying Xbox 360 in sells and games and exclusives.
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/07/20/microsofts-xbox-unit-posts-1-9-billion-loss
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/20/xbox-division-has-1-9-billion-loss-blame-red-rings/
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140383.html
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/07/20/xbox-loses-1-9-billion-failures-at-fault/
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2006/10/13/microsoft-lost-126-billion-launching-the-xbox-360.htm
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2005/09/27/xbox-lost-microsoft-4-billion-over-4-years
June 25th, 2008
mike – 1. ninja gaiden JUST released. at least wait a few months before saying it didn’t sell well. from what i’m seeing, it’s selling just fine.
2. splinter cell, like the cod franchise, has more than one team making the games. this is why some sc games are great and sell great and others don’t. to say it’s been in steady decline is assinine, but not suprising coming from you. 3. the “vast majority” of 360 gamers are hardcore? where did you pull this stat from? yeah, that’s right… it’s not a stat, but a useless baseless opinion tinged by sony-love.
4. first you sony lovers laugh becuase ms isn’t doing so well in japan, then mock them for trying. maybe we, as americans, should mock sony for trying to sell in america while it gets killed in sales (like the 360 in japan).
why do you write? you barely have a grasp of this industry and even less of the history of the franchises. i hope you’re not getting paid because if you are, you’re ripping someone off.
June 25th, 2008
The Last game Rare made on the 360 at least to my knowledge is Kamoe. Which is a very good game. So since you have not finished the list when is Part 3 coming out?
June 25th, 2008
Ivan-PS3 has lost over 3.3 billion now.
360 game library blows PS3 out of the water. Half of your links are from 2005.
Microsoft had balls and backed up the RROD with a billion dollar warranty.
You are a toolbox !
June 25th, 2008
Ivan-PS3 has lost over 3.3 billion now.
360 game library blows PS3 out of the water. Half of your links are from 2005.
Microsoft had balls and backed up the RROD with a billion dollar warranty.
You are a toolbox !
June 25th, 2008
Ivan
Those articles are not even upto date. That is funny. Come wiht some fresh facts not old news.
June 25th, 2008
fresh facts??
how bout the video proof of RRODs in GTA 4….
thanks Ivan for changing the direction of the article… lets hope you dont have absurd fantasies like CAD..
and CAD… its KAMEO!!! not Kamoe… I thought fanboys knew the proper names of their games… for shame…
So.. if I see this right… any article about RRODs… which were written in 2005… they are not credible?? so… a week from now… the current news of Sony losing 3 billion dollars wont be real??? since when did we stop believing in old articles?? or should all the game sites have special RROD and “who lost the most money” section… so they can keep you up to date??
kev and CAD… you guys are liars… you promised me you wont come here anymore… looks like Sony isnt the only liars in the world… I ORDERED 10 SONY CAKES WITH “BYE BYE RETARDS” PRINTED ON THEM!!! I CANT RETURN THEM NOW!!!
tgrass21… Microsoft’s pledge of 1 billion dollars and the extended warranty was a very good move… its not because they have “balls”… its a good business sense… but it was provided because RROD was a BIG problem… it wasnt like 3 people in 10000 were getting RRODs… it wasnt an isolated incident… and with the increased traffic on the net… this news caused a bigger “hoobla” than the PS2 disk read error issue… so they HAD to come up with it… and the problem is still not over.. its still a big issue… and it will be unless xbox 3 doesnt have ANY failure rate…
June 25th, 2008
DWH
Your Hopeless. You cannot read propely because you take things out of contex and why do I even bother responding to you. I’m going to officially ignore you now. At least you can spell thank God he gave you some kind of intelligence.
June 25th, 2008
Your going to ignore DWH……. weren’t you leaving the site, never to return about a month ago ??
Whatever champ. I eagerly await your reply, unless of course, you actually do leave ??
June 25th, 2008
Sony fanboys – still bringing up rrod – lmao – not an issue anymore. Fact is last year at this time the 360 had a 5 mil unit lead on the ps3 and as of now they have a 6 – 6.5 mil unit lead. So stfu until the ps3 PASSES the 360 in overall ww sales. Lmfao!
June 25th, 2008
Spideydog
I only wrote that on Friday and I said “SOON”. Don’t worry the idiocey is at all all time high in here and it is getting to me so don’t worry when I have had enough you’ll know.
June 25th, 2008
darkwhitehair: Sony made the CONSUMERS pay anywhere from 80 – 160 bucks to fix the PS2 and they ignored questions about the problem. MS looked at the issue and came flat out saying it’s their fault and that they want to take care of their customers. That is Balls …and business sense !
When the 360 price drops for the holliday it’s gonna be one hell of a punch with all the exlusives and extras coming out. PS3 is out of price drop range for quite some time now.
June 25th, 2008
Larry, i dont call selling 1/1.5 million sales in a year a success. Thats pretty shocking for your wonder machine. I’d be worried.
June 25th, 2008
cad – i wouldn’t worry about dwh. he’s a professional liar. first he says he has a 360 and plays on ‘live. then he says it’s a modded 360. (everyone knows ms can detect those on ‘live and ban their tags and ip address). then he says it broke (the modded 360) and blames MS for it.
he talks in circles. it’s fun to toy with him, but it gets old…
June 25th, 2008
bourne – the point he was making is that the lead is INCREASING after bluray’s “win”… not declining as predicted by sony and you fanboys.
June 25th, 2008
kevin… I never said I play on live.. I said I had ACCESS to Live for a coupla weeks… when I went to another country.. jeez youre still on about that??
I blamed MS for what?? RRODs?? am I supposed to blame Sony for that?? and since it wsa modded.. I had to pay to get it fixed.. oddly though… I nevr had to fix my PS2… I wonder why??? as long as you dont fantasize about me having homo sexual relations with companies… (like CAD does) Im happy…
tgrass21… if I remember correctly.. Microsoft denied the first claims of RRODs… IM not blaming them… but thats what happened as I remember it… if you have any proof that says “MICROSOFT TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR RROD FROM THE 1st DAY” Id be happy to give it a read…
and from the link that kevin provided (a long time ago) sony had given something to the people who had disk read errors… it was like a gift certificate and reimbursement or something.. I dont remember correctly… but it wasnt as big as 1 billion dollars pledge and entended warranty… but then again… it wasnt hugely publicized over the net… atleast I didnt hear people bitchin about it in their blogs… now.. if you make a slight error.. everyone screams bloody murder… so nowadays… you need something like “1 billion dollar pledge” and “3 years warranty” to combat that bad PR…
http://www.sonydefenseforce.com/?p=423
OMG!!! SO FUNNY!!!
To be fair.. I think Geow 2 will get near perfect score… I just check sdf for comedy gems like these… they gave Haze 10/10… NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!!
June 25th, 2008
http://www.sonydefenseforce.com/?p=324
OMG!! look aT THE PICTURE!!! FUNNY!!!
Ohh and they gave Mass Effect terrible review… BULL SHIT!!!
This site is HILLARIOUS!!! but a little sad… because of the die hard fanboy ism… just like kev and his pal CAD…
June 25th, 2008
GIVE ME FABLE 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111oneoneone!!!!!
On PC
– well maybe ill take it on 360 
I’d have to buy one tho 
June 25th, 2008
DWH, ‘The Cling-ons’ is a suitable name for those 2, don’t you think?
And get away from that SDF site! It’ll rot your brain.
Though that GIF of Bill Gates being creamed by a giant penis is pretty funny.
June 25th, 2008
the wii will demolish the ps3 and xbox 360, the wii has a lot more anticipated games. and halo is a metroid ripoff with blood and sex
June 26th, 2008
Zero AAAs exclusive mayor fail.
June 26th, 2008
Yes Xbox still has a massive Red Light Of Death issues. And those article don’t have to be from 08 Microsoft is still maintaining the place they got at their own expense. They losing every minute that announcement they make this about profit that’s the idiots who subscribe to Xbox Live not the actual console Microsoft came for reason to make sure they got a plan B if PC goes downhill.
June 26th, 2008
dwh- it’s funny you said that as you and your silly ps3 ideas belong on the SDF site.
June 26th, 2008
Wow Ivan, that was difficult to read, I think I understood what you were trying to say about the 4th time I read it.
June 26th, 2008
which silly ideas big kev?? which particular ideas do you think should be in SDF?? please do elaborate… so I can send them a mail with the “ideas”
June 26th, 2008
the idea that MS should be blamed for your modded 360 breaking.
June 27th, 2008
Flash your Xbox 360 firmware like PSP. You can play on Xbox Live and not get ban and if you happen to have an old firmware update and you get ban there’s a couple ways to unbanned your console and account. Let me know if you wanna join the ILLEGAL underworld of free gaming software. I highly recommend hacking your Xbox 360 to play pirate games is more fun and definitely worth doing. PLAYSTATION 3 is uncrackable do to the powerful security encryption from Sony Corp. Microsoft doesn’t mind losing their money or the rest of the Xbox 360 developer and publishers’s money they have plenty to spend LMFAO.
http://www.mininova.org/search/xbox/seeds
http://www.mininova.org/search/xbox/seeds
June 27th, 2008
I didnt say that the 360 broke becuase of the mod… it got RROD just like all the other people… so you DONT want me to blame Microsoft??
As I said.. mine got RROD… something in there got fried… and I had to take it to the modders to fix it…
this is why you hate me?? this simple thing?? jeez boy you have issues…
June 27th, 2008
dwh – if you buy an illegal modded ANYTHING, you have no right to blame the manufacturer as it’s been tampered with post-purchase. I don’t hate you. i pity you as i do all low life thieves.
June 27th, 2008
I pay also i know you will love to have an Xbox 360 modded to play free games for life with no possible way of Microsoft knowing even if you play on Xbox Live using stealth games. I buy most of my games legally except for PSP. I will steal from Sony’s PLAYSTATION 3 if i could but i can only rip PS3 games but once i boot it it gives me an error damn it LoL. I fix one of my Xbox 360 Red Light of Death in early 06 is fine i treaty with care. I have never ever well except Xbox product other than that all my video game consoles have work perfectly one of my PS2s lasted 13 days only playing well ranking my ass up on SOCOM 2 which i was #1 aFg…
June 27th, 2008
ohh… well thank you for your pity… I am soo ashamed that your precious company’s crappy software protection system wasnt good enough to stop the modders…
I dont think youd complain if you knew that I have a modded PS2 as well.. yes.. Sony didnt get one penny from my games…
June 27th, 2008
Actually i have 2 Modded PS2s Lol just because i like and worship being loyal to Sony’s brand and PS2 doesn’t mean i won’t have the sickest console hack. But almost all my games are %100 legally. I’m actually glad you have one it means the hacking community is bigger. I wish the PS3 can get hack is my dream.