Xbox Summit 2005 (X360 games announced+clips and screens)

Last night (our time), Microsoft held an event in Japan to promote the Xbox 360 to the Japanese people. Several games were announced for the Xbox 360, a lot of which probably won't mean much to us in the USA, but some of the games were high profile Japanese games. Here's a list of some of the games announced (some we already know of):

Thanks to Kobun Heat of the Gaming-Age forums for the translation and Kleegamefan for this particular list. I put some notes for abbreviations and name changes for America (Biohazard 5=Resident Evil 5) that I knew of in []. These were just some of the games announced; others like Tokyo Extreme Racing were also shown. You can read more about it from sites like IGN.

As for media, I was going to try and post some links to screens and clips, but someone from Gaming-Age has already done all the hard work. So I'll refer you to that thread:
http://new.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=56640

If you'd rather just check this out on your own, you can browse the IGN site (and maybe Gamespot later tonight) as well as the following site for info and footage/screens:
http://www.xboxyde.com/index_en.html

If you have the chance, I recommend you check out as much as you can. If you don't, at least try to check out some media from 99 Nights (Dynasty Warriors-esque), Frame City Killer (GTA-esque and much improved since E3), and Project Gotham Racing 3. Of course, if you haven't seen the Resident Evil trailer from a few days ago, definitely check that out as well.

While not the best list of games, this is a solid list of games for the Xbox 360. Games like Rumble Roses, Winning Eleven, Ridge Racer, Dynasty Warriors and more have typically been Sony exclusives (or in Japan anyways, as far as WE is concerned). These games may not be exclusive to the Xbox 360, but it is much better support than this gen. It seems like Microsoft is doing all it can to sell consoles in Japan with these moves.

For those of you who only like western developed games, this may not mean much to you other than providing examples of what western games might look like on the Xbox 360; however, for those that enjoy Japanese developed games (myself included), this is great news for Microsoft and potential buyers of the Xbox 360.

 

Nope. Microsoft did reiterate that each of the major regions will have the Xbox 360 this holiday season, but we already knew that (just squashed rumors of delayed Japan release). They should be nailing the date down pretty soon, if they haven't already though. There are a few other major events to go in the next few weeks. MS may mention it then. I'll try to keep you guys informed if anything good comes up.

 

For the gamers that watched the E3 presentation and are now watching these presentations, I think they should be impressed (although there was no where else to go but up after E3 ). Graphically, most of the games are still not quite at the same level as most of the PS3 games, but that may be due to the difference in developers kits. It is pretty hard to explain all the specifics for those that don't know much about this, but basically most of the PS3 media has been created on more advanced hardware than most the Xbox 360 stuff. This does not mean the PS3 is that much more powerful (although it could be); it just means that Sony has been providing more advanced hardware recently. This should change soon as Microsoft has been sending out newer kits that are pretty close to the final specs of the Xbox 360, meaning games should look better as time goes on.

Anyways, back to presentation, most of the games looked pretty good, IMO. Some games still look like high-res current-gen games like DOA and to a degree Rumble Roses XX, but games like 99 Nights, PGR3, Tokyo Extreme (to a degree) and Frame City Killer are all looking next-gen to me (although I'm reading that some of the impressive parts of the FCK trailer may have been prerendered ). I don't know if the Resident Evil 5 media was running off of a PS3, Xbox 360, or if it was rendered to spec of the consoles, but that was gorgeous as well. Even if it was off of a PS3, the Xbox 360 should be able to output the same visuals relatively easy. Actually, since most PS3 developers have only been using the main processor of Cell and 2 6800's or a 7800, the Xbox 360 should be able to do anything that the PS3 realtime clips have shown. We'll probably see this happening soon as developers work with the new kits. So from a graphics standpoint, I think gamers should be excited about the Xbox 360 and next-gen in general. It remains to be seen whether the PS3/Revolution will be more exciting, but the Xbox 360 is doing nicely at the moment, IMO.

From a amount of games standpoint, the Xbox 360 should again be exciting for gamers. Like I basically said earlier, the Xbox 360 is getting nice support in Japan, a place where it got virtually no support this gen. Combine this with their already solid western dev support, and the Xbox 360 should already be better than the Xbox from a games standpoint. One of my criticisms of the Xbox was the lack of Japanese games, particularly RPGs. The Xbox 360 already has 3-4 decent looking Japanese RPG's announced for the console. Sony may still dominate Japan next-gen, but Microsoft has to start somewhere.

So since E3, Microsoft has, IMO, made the Xbox 360 look much better to gamers everywhere. They could have done better, but they have been pretty solid so far. For some great momentum up to the launch, they could announce a big name exclusive in the new few months (Silent Hill, GTA, Final Fantasy or other SE game). This combined with complete launch info and playable games on final hardware means Microsoft might be able to get some gamers forgetting about the debacle at E3. The only thing they would have to worry about is Sony doing just about everything right during that time (which they might be able to do).

Now that you mention it, PD0 has been put under wraps ever since the MTV unveiling. I had mostly forgotten about the game. For Rare's sake, hopefully they got the game looking a lot better.

 

I really don't understand what Team Ninja is doing. Like you said, they did some awesome things on the Xbox, yet DOA4 (graphically) is one of the, if not the, most disappointing titles for the Xbox 360, IMO. It may be due to their artistic style, but they could still make it look more like their CGI than what it looks like now (hi-res current-gen DOA). The whole motion blur thing they are putting in the game is nice, but not spectacular, IMO. I'll wait until the final product before coming up with a final opinion, but Team Ninja has been a disappointment thus far.

The only bad thing about the Mistwalker deal is that, IIRC, Sakaguichi and his company are not actually making the game for Microsoft but just providing them with the game assets. One of Microsoft's internal studios will actually be making the game. I may have misunderstood something, or maybe something changed, but that was my understanding of the agreement. Personally, I'd be more comfortable with MW doing everything than leaving the making of the game to MGS. Although I guess what MW provides will be what makes the game good anyways, so maybe it won't matter that much.

I'm more interested in Microsoft's relationship with Square-Enix. Right now, the FFXI agreement is a joke, hardly worth making note of, IMO. Whether SE has something more planned, I don't know, but MS will need more than that to make an impact. From the comments back at E3, SE seems to still want the Final Fantasy series on the PS3, but MS may be able to pull away another franchise (besides something like FF:CC, or something of that level). If they could get something like Kingdom Hearts or Dragon Quest on the Xbox 360, they will be doing very well for themselves. These would probably have to be exclusives though since most of the fans of those series are most likely partial to the PS brand and would get the PS3 versions of the game anyway.

Square-Enix has a show coming up in a couple more days; maybe they'll mention some more about it then.

 

Thanks for the reminder on the specifics of the deal. Maybe I was just overreacting a bit since I'm sure Mistwalker will have a big impact on the games being made. AFAIK, MGS doesn't seem to have much experience in Japanese RPG style of games, but I guess they can rely on Mistwalker to help them there. I guess I would just feel better if Mistwalker did it all, although I think they're to small to do so. I guess in a ways it would be like Kojima being just a consultant for MGS4 instead of being the game's director and the other titles he holds. He can have large influence on the game, but it still isn't his creation, so to speak. Worst comes to worst, these MW RPG's will still probably be some of the best RPG's to come to a Xbox platform.

Just read this and I'm too lazy to rewrite what I just typed:

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050726/kohler_01.shtml

I don't know too much about Artoon. I think they made the Blinx games. For the little bit I know, I'm not too impressed. For MS sake, hopefully they know something about RPG's.

Personally, I take the same approach do this topic that you do. Next-gen, I think SE will focus mostly on the PS3. I just read a lot about speculation on their relationship with Microsoft and prepare myself for any surprises. I believe Sony and Square have had some arguments lately, mostly on the aspects of MMORPG's and an included HDD. SE likes MMORPG's, but not including a HDD in the PS3 doesn't exactly improve MMORPG's, not to mention the question of if Sony can compete with Xbox Live. I wonder if maybe the PSP could be an indication of the relationship between the two. At first, SE had announced tons of support for the DS and nothing for the PSP; finally they announced FF7:CC, and I read something (probably rumors) that they were planning other titles as well.

So while I doubt SE will change their loyalties too much, especially with their main franchises, I could see them either making some games multiplatform or giving in to a nice offer from Microsoft in order to deal with next-gen financing. I read somewhere that MS had offered several Japanese developers/publishers large amounts of money to release games on their console. That's definitely not unheard of, but I could see several companies giving in (some already have), especially if MS is willing to pay up. With some of Sony's overall financial problems, not to mention the budgets assigned to the success of Blu-ray, Cell, the PSP, etc., I wonder if Sony will be able to compete with this approach to gaining developer support.

Not sure if this was sarcasm or something like that. For the most part, I don't like Microsoft that much. In fact, many here may say I'm a extreme Sony fanboy wearing rose-colored Sony sunglasses with a built-in ATRAC player, listening to a song that Sony paid millions of dollars for just so it could be played on the radio 20 times a day. I realize there are people on the board that are more interested in the Xbox 360 and the Revolution than the PS3, so I try to see things from their perspective with threads like this.

 

This presentation was for the Japanese audience, so mentioning what Bungie was up to wouldn't really make a difference. Although it isn't like anyone needs to question their loyalty or even what game they're working on right now.

It would be nice to read some interviews on what they've been doing on next-gen hardware though. Hopefully they don't pull a Team Ninja.

 

No problem. I forgot to mention what the interview was about and that it was a great read. I’m glad you noticed that.

I've always taken that quote to mean that Sony still wants to be selling PS3's ~10 years from now, but that doesn't mean the PS4 won't be launched 10 years from now. For example, the PS2 may have another few years of life in it. If Sony can get decent for it the next few years, which is possible since they can still lower the price, then they will get pretty close to 10 years for the PS2. The PS1 may have been a better example, but I'm drawing a blank on whether or not Sony is still making them, and if not, when they stopped.

From their point of view, I'm guessing they'll try to sell the PS3 at a big loss for 1-2 years, maybe strart to break even in years 3-4, and then start to getting huge profits for the next 6 years. The PS4 release and the PS3's total lifecycle may have hardly anything to do with each other. Plus, from a financial standpoint, I'm guessing Sony is hoping Cell is everything they designed it to be; if so, they don't have to spend as much money on the PS4 as they did on the PS3, but can still end up with a very powerful system (maybe even more powerful, relatively, depending on general Cell development). In the next 5-7 years, I expect to see Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony each getting ready to release another console, unless of course any of them go bankrupt or something like that.

Thanks, I'll try to keep up these equal representation, although it may start to get pretty crazy later in the year as the 360 launches and the PS3 sends out final hardware to developers.

The only bad thing is that recently, I've been talking a lot about the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but very little about the Revolution. This isn't really my fault since there isn't much info to talk about, but I do feel bad about not including the Revolution in these discussions (IE: Japanese support I talked about in this thread). Most of the stuff I see about it are just rumors (most of which are later proven false), so I've become less interested in the Revolution for now. Once Nintendo starts letting go of some more information, maybe I'll be able to discuss it more. Until then, I'll probably be posting mostly about the other two consoles.