Looking Ahead: Xbox 360 in 2010

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Microsoft had an overall successful 2009. Sales for the system and games were did well enough considering the economy and the introduction of another revision has seemingly resulted in a more dependable console system. Live was updated to include Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm apps, the popular Netflix app received a much needed update, and Windows 7 helped alleviate some of the video codec compatibiltiy problems. But most of the looking back on 2009 has been done to death so we should now start looking forward to 2010 and what Microsoft plans on bringing to the Xbox 360. I’ll also take a look at various items that need to be fixed or updated and how likely that any of that will come true.

Exclusive Games

Microsoft's exclusive games for the Xbox 360 don't quite match up to the Playstation 3 in quantity but fans of the system will not be disappointed by any means as the list is full of stout games like Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake, Fable III, and Crackdown 2. The 500lb gorilla of the bunch will be Bungie’s Halo swan song, Halo Reach which is set on the planet Reach prior to the events of the first Halo game and promises Spartan squad-based combat. Microsoft is really going to need the new engine developed for Halo Reach to show that the Xbox 360 can keep up with some of the Playstation 3’s more stunning exclusives graphically. Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction both look more than capable of keeping up with the competition even if Reach falls short though.

There are some lesser exclusives like Tropico 3, Supreme Commander 2, Metro 2033, and Majesty 2 coming to the Xbox 360 as well. What’s missing though? Well, Japanese RPGs for one. Two years back you were more likely to find JRPGs on the Xbox 360 than either the PS3 or Wii. That appears to be changing now though as there really aren’t any exclusive JRPGs coming to the 360. Microsoft did score a coup by getting Final Fantasy XIII for North America though.

Could a Gears of War III announcement be on the way? Gears II left us with a mother of a cliff-hanger and Epic initially seemed interesting in holding off the third installment in the series until the next-generation of consoles. Now that the release of the next-generation has been put off until probably 2012, Epic may go ahead and get Gears III out of the way.

Non-Exclusive Games

The slate of games that the Xbox 360 will share with the Playstation 3 is as strong as ever. The releases are so plentiful that it isn’t even possible to list them all in this column without making it longer than it already is turning out to be. Outside of the usual yearly sports releases, let’s just say that highlights start out with Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock 2, Fallout New Vegas, UFC Undisputed 2010, Dead Rising 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Lost Planet 2, Max Payne 3, the next Call of Duty and much more. Potential sleeper hits include Brink, I Am Alive, No More Heroes’ 2, Darksiders, and Red Dead Redemption among others. Naturally, expect many more games to be announced and released through the year.

Xbox Live Arcade

Live Arcade had another solid year in 2009 with releases like Shadow Complex, Trials HD, ‘Splosion Man, and Battlefield 1943. Not much is confirmed about what games are coming when in 2010 for Xbox Live Arcade (see What Needs to be Fixed for why). But, what we do know is that we’re going to see updated versions of Perfect Dark, Serious Sam, and Earthworm Jim along with the micro-transaction oriented, Avatar kart racing game, Joy Ride. Live Arcade games tend to get released pretty fast with little lead time to build expectations but the list of games with no set dates looks as promising and entertaining as previous years.

One of the interesting developments of Live Arcade has been the job listing that strongly hints that Xbox Live enabled games will be made available to Windows Mobile phones. We should expect to hear more on this over the year.

Project Natal

Project Natal marks Microsoft's big gamble for the Xbox 360 in 2010. What has been shown and leaked so far has ranged from questionable to interesting from laughable to inspiring. There are still big questions that remain however because this is less of an evolutionary step like the PS3 Wand is and more of a revolutionary risk. At their CES keynote, Microsoft didn't reveal much more about Natal other than a "Holiday release".  We should see more during  the upcoming Game Developers Conference and E3.

The primary question that must be answered is what kind of games will we be playing with Natal? Should we expect FPS games? Probably not but there have been tech demos showing off Natal used with the Half-Life 2. That may have just been more of a showing how to move around an environment demo, however.

Natal is clearly aimed at the casual crowd that flocked to the Wii so I honestly don’t expect to see any of the “hardcore” shooter titles typically associated with the Xbox 360. What we will probably see is casual multiplayer games similar to Wii Sports, exercise games, and party games. It will be interesting to see how Natal can be used to navigate the Xbox 360 menu system, however, and whether or not it moves us closer to a “Minority Report” type user interface.

One of the reasons that peripherals such as Natal don’t catch on in the past is that not enough people buy them. Microsoft is likely to bundle Natal in with Xbox 360s after it is released but that still leaves around 39 million units sold worldwide without the motion detector camera. Microsoft is going to have to price and promote Natal aggressively if it wants it to succeed. For this reason, expect a price of less than $40 and for a bundle of Natal games to be included.

Game Room

Announced during Microsoft's CES keynote, Game Room will be released this Spring to give you Avatar his own virtual arcade to play classic arcade titles like Centipede or Galaga.  You may have noticed that the release of classic arcade games slowed down to a half recently and this would be why.  Microsoft is promising weekly releases of titles that will accumulate to over 1,000 classic arcade games in three years time.  You'll be able to invite friends to your virtual arcade to play with and also to show off how you've decorated the place.  Yes, this means more Avatar micro-transactions. 

AT&T U-Verse

Another announcement during Microsoft's CES keynoe was that support for AT&T's U-verse would finally happen this year along with Mediaroom 2.0.  IPTV support was previously announced in 2007 but was never completed.  It's back now though and Microsoft is promising support for it "later this year."  Given that the Xbox 360 typically receives two major updates a year this probably means sometime in late November or early December.

Continue to Part 2 of Looking Ahead: Xbox 360 in 2010 - What Needs to be Fixed

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