Microsoft: less hardcore Xbox 360 games in 2009?
A Microsoft rep reveled that the company plans on taking a cautious stance in 2009. The rep also indicated that with several unknown factors, such as the economy, the company may be in for some tough times. Microsoft also indicated plans to cut costs in the coming year. There are some clues that the company might be making a big shift towards the casual market in 2009. Can the company finally shake off the hardcore video game console stigma earned over the years?
Microsoft is usually the first to point a finger at the competitor and kick them when they are down. Don’t believe us? Go ahead and read every press release they have sent out. In the months the Xbox 360 have outsold the PS3, Microsoft made it a point to mention how much it outsold the competitor by. While both the Wii and the PS3 barely mention any of the competitors in press releases even when sales have been great throughout 2008.
Microsoft also became notorious for stating that whoever was the first to sell 10 million units would win the console wars. According to Reuters, Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Game Studios, indicated that flat growth in 2009 could be a good thing despite the economic downturn. Kim also indicated that yes, the entertainment industry usually prospers during economic slumps, but the company will still prepare to cut costs in 2009.
I really hope that doesn’t mean that the company will be cutting costs by shutting down more studios. The company has already shutdown several studios in the past two years. A Microsoft representative has previously stated that the company plans on focusing more on scalable business ventures, such as casual games. Could this be the reason there has been no announcements made about Alan Wake?
A studio member working on the Alan Wake project did assure us that the project was not vaporware. However, that is exactly what Sony London studio reps said about Eight Days and Getaway before they were canceled. With Activision recently stating that the company would be producing fewer hardcore titles in 2009, the gaming vista looks more bleak than ever.
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December 4th, 2008
Well seeing that AAA hardcore games cost millions to make, it’s a rather large investment with no guaranteed return.
December 4th, 2008
Well thank you fucking Nintendo.
But still, I’m still sure there will be plenty coming out
The next generation will be telling, I can’t wait to see the specs ofthe machines ms and sony are going to release (yes we’re miles off, but it may tell us what to expect)…
December 4th, 2008
games like “youre in the movies” and lips pissed me off… specially youre in the movies… and lips has to online play… I expect this kinda crap from Wii… not the 360…
December 4th, 2008
Quick, Someone call the Waaaambulance DWH and SW are going to cry!
December 4th, 2008
If I get into the gaming industry, I’ll tug on some sleeves and ask them to make a hardcore game, just for us. Guys, any preference for content?
December 4th, 2008
ncaissie – is that all you’re ever going to add?
‘omz you need teh GFX! you wah wah QQ more kk?’
Deary me.
IF tomorrow, all you ever could see at the movies was ’super hero movie’ and the fantasitc 4, i think (I fucking hope) you’d be kinda annoyed too.
December 4th, 2008
“While both the Wii and the PS3 barely mention any of the competitors in its press releases even when sales have been great throughout 2008.”
what a load of crap.
the reason sony does not compare sales numbers is because their sales number suck. they choose to compare themselves to themselves to try to convince people the ps3 isn’t the failure it truly is.
December 4th, 2008
MS is going to have a very hard time trying to win over casuals now.
Sony had them the last 2 generations, and when they turned their back on the casual, Nintendo grabbed them for this generation.
MS spent all of last gen and so far this gen, until recently, building up its reputation as for the hardcore. Turning to the casual now will likely hurt their reputation among the base they have tried to build since they got into the console market, AND it will not likely attract much of the base that supported two Playstations and the Wii.
December 4th, 2008
@kev,
You must work for Msft or something, your like the biggest Xbot I’ve seen.
Nintendo barley mentions the Xbox or PS3 even though it outsells everyone by 2 to 3 times.
Sony outsold Microsoft for the most part of 2008 before the price cuts in September, and I don’t recalling them mentioning the Xbox or Wii in any of their press releases.
Sony didn’t even gloat when it sold 2x more consoles than Xbox 360 in July.
This all true, Microsoft has some sort of inferiority complex or something.
December 4th, 2008
Why not talk about Japan as well. Xbots were dancing in the streets when the 360 beat the PS3 for a month, but the following month when PS3 sales for one week nullified all those sales……..crickets…..
December 4th, 2008
REALLY KEV?? YOU THINK THAT PS3 is a failure?? wow I never wouldve guessed you felt that way… specially since the last thousand posts you made were ALL THE SAME!!!
seriously dude… you need some new material…
December 4th, 2008
Royzy,
Can I please have something to do with hookers, zombies, and shooting shit?
Oh wait, Duke Nukem took that idea. God bless Duke Nukem.
December 4th, 2008
Kev, CAD, and Harry: See you on PSN by the end of next year.
@DWH: Hey, you actually made me laugh. Good on ya, mate.
-Arvis
December 4th, 2008
MS doesn’t own the studio making Alan Wake. Remedy is NOT owned by MS. MS is just a publisher for Alan Wake. So MS alone doesn’t decide whether is made or not.
December 4th, 2008
Chris,
The only way you’d see me on the PSN is if I find a PS3 for $50 or am given one.
December 4th, 2008
Harry,
Then you should ask for a PS3 for Christmas. That way you can actually play some good new video games next year.
Seriously, I’d plop down the cash for Resistance 2 or Killzone 2 if you got a PS3, then we could play some co-op. Deal?
*grins*
Ah, I’m just giving you a hard time in the true Blorge spirit. I know there will be tons of non-exclusives coming out next year that will keep you plenty busy.
…and yeah, if I could get a 360 for under $100 (still under warranty, of course) I’d get one.
-Arvis
December 4th, 2008
Arvis
I was going to stay quite but after that rubbish you just said I have to break my silence. Let it be known to all that I WILL NEVER BUY THAT PIECE OF CRAP PLAYSTATION 3 OR ANY SONY PRODUCT AGAIN. I’m disgusited with Sony’s attitude and like I’ve siad like a broken record they forgot about who their market was and it’s us the gamers. 360 has so much to offer that the PS3 looks like an overpriced wannabe 360. The reason why all of you hate the comments of Harry, Kev and Myself is because your on the loosing side of things and all of your post are nothing more then to TRRRRRYYYY to justify your purchase of the worse console on the market. Your slow downloading, I have so many studios and no exclusives, Bluray that marginally better then a upscaling DVD, the worse of the 3rd party graphic, hard for developers to make a game on, becoming a 360 with every firware update, Power sucking, overpriced, I’m still waiting for games to be developed and I’m two years old, Overprice, I give my customers no options, loosing exclusives to 360, Overpriced, I have no money for DLC, Movie download bitting because bluray might fail, Home that’s been pushed back since ps2 evolving idea, Online wanna be, Cell processor that can’t do games properly, 720p limited, Bluray slow downloading disk with 2x disk drive, mandatory HD install taking up all my memory, Releasing a proloug and not a full game, Packaging a Bluray movie in a game console, Phill Harrison leaving because the management in Japan has no clue what their doing, loosing exclusives to 360, Folding, Mike Ferro and Dave Parrack Bum Blasting Buddies who write garbage all day, piece of garbage crap machine. Did I leave anythig out? Does that make you understand that I will never buy a PS3!!!! :>)
December 4th, 2008
okay first of all , just because MS said that they will be cutting costs because of the economy doesnt mean there will be a shift to a casual audiance , that logic is retarded and makes me sick.
second of all if you were not such a flipping idiot you would know that alan wake just had a brand new trailer released that completely shits all over anything anounced so far , and its garunteed quality since its been in development since 2005
here is the trailer noob , do your fucking research
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGj-tlc0q9w&feature=related
December 4th, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGj-tlc0q9w&feature=related
December 4th, 2008
the gaming vista looks so bleak in fact . . . that the biggest game for the PS3 this year was . . .
Drum roll . . . .
Little Big Planet!
Talk about losing a hardcore game segment . . . Sony’s biggest and most hyped release this year is a child’s game . . . similar to if MS had slapped a “console seller” monogram on Banjo Kazooie . .
go away fanbois, I don’t want to hear how fun your sackboy game is . . . go get an erector set losers.
And Mike . . why does Sony need to release the “we beat these other console” statements? They have you to release it before it’s even official or true.
December 4th, 2008
I can see jsimons name, but all I can see is diarrhoea on my screen.. wtf is going on…
December 4th, 2008
‘and its garunteed quality since its been in development since 2005′
I hope that was a joking nudge at Too Human
NOTHING is guaranteed to be a quality title these days…
December 4th, 2008
Does everyone realize that the entire point of this article is to add words into the mouths of MS execs?
No attempt at journalism . . . just attempt to misstate and misquote people.
Mike – you work for CNN or MSNBC? oh . . probably not MSNBC.
December 4th, 2008
ya its garunteed quality
Unlike too human , the development of this game wasnt run by a finger pointing retard who doesnt know what gamers want .
It was made by the creators of max payne , which some will argue is the best game of the last generation.
December 4th, 2008
I loved the Max Payne games…..the movie not so much.
Chris, ok deal, if I pick up a free or $50 PS3, you can buy me those games and i’ll spank you online.
However, we both know that it’s not going to happen. I am happy with my 360, and my console exclusives for next year, such as Halo Wars, Alan Wake, Forza 3 etc.
Hey so I hear that GT5 has been announced for a Christmas 2009 release? So once we put in Sony’s delay policy, let me know how the game is when you get it, sometime in 2012.
December 4th, 2008
Max payne was a decent game ill give it that, a tad repetative. You ended up just slow mo diving around every single effing corner.
The sad thing is, ‘enter the matrix’ sucked balls SO badly, when you know if they had of used max payne as a template it could’ve been so damn cool (like the matrix mods for mp).
Oh well, we’ll have to wait to see how good it will be!
Anything good coming out between now and Resi 5 anyone?
December 5th, 2008
killzone2. The new videos online look awesome! I recorded g4. Still haven’t gotten the chance the watch that yet though.
December 5th, 2008
I needed to dissect this grammar-horrified post a bit.
“I WILL NEVER BUY THAT PIECE OF CRAP PLAYSTATION 3 OR ANY SONY PRODUCT AGAIN”
———-As opposed to the one that doesn’t break at a whopping 33% of the time by the monopolistic company that rushed their defective console to market to “beat the competition”.
“The reason why all of you hate the comments of Harry, Kev and Myself is because your on the loosing side of things and all of your post are nothing more then to TRRRRRYYYY to justify your purchase of the worse console on the market.”
———-The hate stems from the fact that you’re (that’s how you spell that word) broken record imbeciles. Again…..worse console on the market? Hardware wise, there has never been a worse console on the market than the 360. It’s so bad it’s borderline criminal. I wouldn’t buy a car were 1/3 were lemons or get in a jet were 1/3 fall out of the sky!
“I have so many studios and no exclusives”
———I’d play list wars but that retarded. Let me put it this way. The 360 had more exclusives because it was out for a year longer. All the 3rd party companies that would make games for both were……duh exclusive to the 360 as the PS3 was not out at the time. Now we get the see the tide turn as MS has to scramble to buy up 3rd party exclusives to compensate for the 1st party studios they keep letting go.
“Bluray that marginally better then a upscaling DVD”
———-Marginally… Ok…by a large margin J
“the worse of the 3rd party graphic, hard for developers to make a game on”
———-This seems to change as the developers start development on the PS3 first. Cough Burnout.
“Overpriced”
———-You pay for what you get. -Awesome reliable game system with a kick ass Blu-ray player to boot.
“becoming a 360 with every firware update”
———–Your right. I heard a firmware upgrade caused some consoles to brick.
“ I’m still waiting for games to be developed and I’m two years old”
———–Alan Wake and Huxley say hello………
“Home that’s been pushed back since ps2 evolving idea, Online wanna be”
————NXE seems to be trying to copy it enough.
“Cell processor that can’t do games properly, 720p limited, Bluray slow downloading disk with 2x disk drive, mandatory HD install taking up all my memory,”
————OK. Games completely suck on the PS3 because it can’t “do” them properly. Der…
720p limited? Wipout HD anyone? A blu ray 2X drive is faster than a 16Xdvd drive reading only 8X since all the games on DVD are dual layer. This is a fact. Ill take a mandatory install to diminish load times. I wish all games had them. What were you saying about “your” memory. Lol..
“Releasing a proloug and not a full game, Packaging a Bluray movie in a game console,”
————Prolog was an idea that happened it Japan years ago. Never heard about it more than likely since you wouldn’t pay attention to ps news from Japan. Can’t blame ya there..
“Packaging a Bluray movie in a game console, “
———–gotta get the word out somehow.
“Phill Harrison leaving because the management in Japan has no clue what their doing”
———–This unfortunately is true. They should have held onto GTA when given a chance.
“Folding”
———–Only the biggest of dicks could put folding down. Sweet Irony would be if cancer was about to take one of your nuts and the only cure was something brought on by the efforts of the PS3. Oh what a tough decision for you…..but I hate the PS3.
Did I leave anythig out?
———–An “N”
Please don’t buy one.
December 5th, 2008
btw.
Not wishing cancer on ya. That kind of re-read as harsh.
I meant.
“becoming a 360 with every firware update”
———–You’re right. I heard a firmware upgrade caused some consoles to brick.
December 5th, 2008
Cancer will never be cured because THERE IS NO MONEY IN A CURE. Everyting in the drug store is only to help with your symptoms. If they cured everything they would have no jobs. Vaccinations are one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Let take a small dosage of the actual virus and put it in my body so I can become immune to it. When did humans become so stupid? The last thing that they cured was Polo and they learned THERE IS NO MONEY IN A CURE. Were feeding this industry and it does absolutly nothing. These drug commericals in the US kill me. They advertise the benefits of the drug and then go on to list the side effect of the drug. Go ahead and feed an industry that gets rich of us and runs up your electric bill. Doctors get handout from pharmacies to write perscriptions. Humans have been on this earth for 6,000 Years Biblically and have survived off then God given Imune Systems. Go ahead and support folding because it’s nothing but a waist of time. PS3 has been doing this for 2 years. If things were calcualte so dame fast why is it in 2 year there is no resluts, no cures no anything.
December 5th, 2008
Also Pranctoast,
Go ahead and attack my few grammer mistakes because that’s all you have. You act like I’m writing a novel or the newspaper or magazine. This is stupid Blorg, who cares. You cannot justify your purchase so instead you drop to character insults. That’s pretty low. You make fun of RROD but RROD is fixed faster then a game can be released on a console that did not listen to developers on what they needed. Sounds like Sony, shoving down your throat what you don’t need. NXE is not copying home because it’s not releaed so how can you call that copy when there is nothing to look at. We didn’t copy the Sims. The 360 just extended the service that already exsisted through avtars. Keep scratching the bottom of the barrel because that’s all you got.
December 5th, 2008
Stop drinking the koolaide. The US was also responsible for 9-11, not some pissed off Muslims…;) get a raging clue.
All that negative about vaccines, yet polo was a vaccination!!!!!
Your not entirely wrong however…(that hurt to say..I think I threw up in my mouth)
AIDS will never be cured as, like you said it’s more profitable to keep people alive living with the disease paying out.
And A lot has happened with folding. Go check the site.
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers
December 5th, 2008
holy shit . . .
I just realized PS3 home crap has not been released yet.
sony rocks.
December 5th, 2008
Yeah.. I insult your grammar because it gets you mad. Probably the same reason you bother posting negative shit in positive ps3 articles.
Was RROD fixed. If fixed you mean they extended the warranty by three years then you are indeed correct. Jasper chipset is new. Not sure what the percentage on the Falcon are. May need to do some more research in order to bug you more.
Ideas implemented in NXE were straight from Home. Just because Home isn’t out yet (as it’s more complicated) doesn’t mean the announcement didn’t point MS into that direction.
December 5th, 2008
Well Pranctoast Microsoft never copied Home. If you heard what the people of Rare said that it was an idea from the begining before 360 came out. Rare was and still is a developer for Nintendo. So even though this is speculation I just wonder where Nintendo might have got it from. But it’s not a new idea. It just was not implemented in the original dashboard. Microsoft never made mention or promised anything about it, it just happened when they announced it at E3. Also Home has been demonstrated befor and nothing in any demonstration is copied into the new NXE. If anything Sony saw the Mii’s and thought what a great idea and then copied it while ripping of the Sims and coming up wiht Home. So before you go saying Microsoft Copied just think about how much Sony has coppied from Nintendo and Microsoft. There is nothing original about the PS3 except Bluray and the Cell
December 5th, 2008
Shit cad, its like Phranc violated your mother/sister or something…
Crazy.
December 5th, 2008
The blades were so much better than the NXE dash (with the exception of hdd installs).
As for this whole copying thing, havn’t we been here before?
Every companies ‘borrows ideas!’ from every other company. Big. Fudging. Deal.
December 5th, 2008
Personally I like the new NEX. But the blades are still there. The Ripping off convo is not new, it’s just that Pranctoast is new and yes every company copies from each other but original ideas come form Microsoft and Nintendo.
December 5th, 2008
So true Cad, I mean if MS wouldn’t have came up with the original idea of Windows, oh, wait they didn’t. But when they created the first gaming console with the Xbox, oh, wait that didn’t happen either. I think MS is as original as this conversation.
The only thing MS is good at is marketing. That has always been their strength. Their ideas are hardly ever original, they just know how to market those ideas better than pretty much everyone else!
December 5th, 2008
@SW.
I did.
Thanks Wylie. I was laughing so hard at the original comment made by CAD I almost couldn’t type.
Please remember to thank Sony for Forza and Lips
December 5th, 2008
OHH MY GAWD PHRANC!!! I think I just made another fwend here… YOU!!!! not gimme youre psn so we can play some REAL games like bowling in home…
also… the whole “360 had a one year head start” is getting really old… Im comfortable with the position of all the consoles right now… good old games… new ones to look forwards to… its not the 360s fault MS made a good decision to release their console early… it worked… sigh… if Sony was a lil quicker… maybe we couldve had Gears on the ps3… *sheds a single tear*
December 5th, 2008
I hate sounding like a broken record but if I must repeat my self to you people who live in virtual reality I guess I will one last time. Mind you I’m only talking about consoles not PC’s. Get rid of you hard drive and go get a memory card. Add to that list your Wireless controllers, Movie Downloads, Online gaming, every firmware that copied the 360. Like in game music from your console, Media streaming from a computer or external hard drive. the ability to talk to friends which goes into the whole online thing. Get rid of home which is a copy of the Miis/Sims, Every game that you claim is a Sony brand that Sony really took from Nintendo. Get rid of siaxis motion control which is a copy from Nintendo. Get rid of Demos, videos and every Downloadable content including game add on’s and features that were in the 360 since launch, That leaves the PS3 with Bluray, The Cell Processor, Folding, memory cards and DVD drive used for games instead of cartrigde and also played movies. Get rid of the ability to firmware update and really what idea did sony inovate in the gaming industry. I’m not saying thses ideas are new but they were first found in a Nintendo or a 360/original xbox and Sega started the online gaming on consoles. All Sony did was capatalize on the industry because Nintendo did not agree with you when the two companies were suppose to make a console together instead Sony competed with the Playstation brand.
December 6th, 2008
CAD that was a really awful post. Seriously man, steps away from the computer and calm down or something. They’re making less sense the further you go.
But I must say, I particulary enjoyed the whole ‘YOU PS3 HAZ NOTHINGZZ!!!! SONY IS TEH COPYCATZ’ but yet the 360 is this amazing box with demos!!!! – because we all know ms invented Demos!!!!!
So lets look at this way shall we :
The 360 should have no dvd drive because the ps2 had one, no demos because ms didn’t invent those, no wireless controllers because of the wavebird, no online gaming because of the DC. Addons again, not invented by N, Sega, MS, or Sony. And that rumble you love? Gone!
In conclusion : The 360 is a windows media extender, that should only play games from HD-DVD because no-one has used that in a console yet! You can’t even use a d-pad, analogue stick or even a joystick on that sucker either.
DO YOU SEE HOW FUCKING RETARDED THAT WAS?!?
Finally, Harry, etc. I am trying to point something out here and NOT insult the 360. Its a fine machine and I don’t give a fuck who stole what.
December 6th, 2008
huh? what did i do?
December 6th, 2008
Insulted Ivans moustache a long time ago.
For that, I shall never forgive you.
December 8th, 2008
It’s just that i am jealous of it….