Twenty launch titles for Xbox 360?
by Steve Parsons 
{ Jun 14th 2005 at 12:14PM }
It'll be a November to Remember this year when Xbox 360 debuts. According to the editor of Famitsu Xbox, it will be
debuting with 20 titles.
The editor, Munetatsu Matsui, has very close ties to the Japanese Xbox operation, and is therefore considered to be in
the know. When contacted, Microsoft did confirm that between 25-40 titles would be available in the launch
window.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the story is about how Xbox 360 will have hidden features which won't be unveiled
until a year after the launch. Which of course means every Xbox hacker was just placed on high alert, and anyone with
an internet connection will probably be able to find out how to access them by the following Valentines Day.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
If the games are decent, and the prices are not too high, this might be a good deal this christmas.
As for the hidded features... I have a feeling one of them is Microsoft tracking every game you play, seeing how long and what levels... only to turn around and do some sneaky direct marketing on our asses.
Can you see what finger I am holding up now, J Allard?
Smiling Politely @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
I can see it now. Their suprise after one year is their reversed engineered version of Revolution's controller and they will claim the ideal for it suddenly came to them out of nowhere.
Ben Sanborn @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
I dont think Revolution fans realize how annoying a gyro controller will really be. It's going to cause some serious wrist problems
your daddy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
hehehe, I suspect if you are a Revolution fan... you already have good wrists ;)
Eric @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
hidden features... what a load of B/S, this is the Microsoft way of dealing with the fact the PS/3 has better specs --- to get users to buy a box on the promise of extra features... please, what's the secret, if they are so awesome hype it up (we understand it takes a while for the developers to catch up)
Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Mate, you do know that the ps3 and the 360 are almost identical. And that the specs arent everything (unless one of them is miles ahead of the other, which isnt the case). In fact, in a lot of the specs (the important ones) the 360 wins.
But microsoft has beaten sony in the graphics department, again.
courtney @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
I agree with the last post. Like I've said before Xbox fanboys surprise me. MS is a huge 500pound ape, they could care less about the gamer , they are just looking at it as another money bag.
Thats not to say some good games havent come out of Xbox, but like they say "money talks"
It just feels like Sony and Nintendo actually care about what they make and their fans, especially Nintendo.
blud rad @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Hey Micro$oft, if your launch games are good enough I will keep them. If they suck, I will sell them as soon as I can... regardless of what promise you make about hidden features.
I see you wanting us to hold onto those old crappy game, so we don't lower the value of them. If people keep their "Jet Set Radio2" crappy games, newbies to the XBob365 will get sucked into paying full price, instead of picking it up for $5 in the garbage bin.
Not a bad idea, making a crappy game look like a good seller with the promise of it magically being good down the road. However, down the road... we are likely to see another great microsoft promise go up in smoke (new xbox power cords won't fix this one).
How about no more gimmics, more details and a few decent games... that is all we want.
xbox360 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
This whole 'hidden feature that will be made known at a later date' rings a bell.
Wasn't it Steve Jobs with the fourth generation ipod that at time of launch, that a new feature would be utilised later into the product lifecycle? Now correct me if I'm wrong, but this 'extra feature' was speculated on but never actually happened?
Cpt Spaulding @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Urm in the climate of console wars, if the extra feature was anything to brag about dont you think they would? More like you find out the extra features are spyware.
Dalvin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Microsoft wouldnt want to reveal the hidden feature so that sony can just copy them. This is what nintendo is doing with their controller. They want to keep it a secret because all the companies copy nintendo's ideas. For example the joystiq was first used on the nintendo 64 and the rumble pack was also used first on the nintendo 64. I dont think microsoft is lying about these hidden features. I here that its going to have to do with xbox live.
jc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Umm, Dalvin...
If joysticks were first used with Nintedo64 can you tell me what I was using with my Apple//c , my Atari or even my ColecoVision back in the early 1980's?
IMHO, I would say that Nintendo has learnt their lesson with the "Virtual Boy". Nintendo's very cautious stance is likely a result of too much market testing everything until it loses all of it's taste.
SurfMurph @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Ummm, for home video game consoles, the joystick was first used on the Atari VCS/2600 controller. Not sure of the first arcade game to use a joystick. Perhaps you meant 'thumbstick'?
Tranq @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Oh, yeah... Microsoft has nothing better to do than figure out ways to decieve the public. Oh sure... their conference rooms are chock full of evil, hand-wringing executives plotting to seize control of your minds. Yup, they're just sitting around waiting to steal other people's ideas. Honestly, some of you guys are f**king idiots. Look, Microsoft is simply trying to make a great console that competes with Sony and Nintendo, and last time I checked, that was called free market capitalism. But Microsoft is the company you love to hate, regardless of the truth. I had to laugh at how completely snowed most of you were by Sony's E3 presentation. Sony lied to you and you saps bought it.
jg @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
well when you are on top everyone loves to hate you. they are number 1 for a reason. special shout out to all the java/apple/palm/linux lovers out there. all companies are out to get your money, get over it. its your job as the consumer to figure out what features work for you.
SiN ViCIoUs @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Tranq rightly said. Remember when xbox shipped with a ethernet card, and how all the nintendo and BS3 fanboys were scoffing at the idea? MS said they will have online play, I heard the same things comparing it dreamcast online play.But MS kept their word and rolled an awsome online experience for a great price!!!
Idiot is the correct word...
djSyndrome @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
If he meant to say Joystick, then it's the Fairchild Channel F (VES), which beat the 2600 to market by a full year.
If he meant analog stick, then we're probably looking at the Atari 5200 (or another console of that era; can't remember if Coleco's 'sticks' were analog or not).
djSyndrome @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Actually, I just looked it up and the Vectrex was purportedly the first console with an analog stick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
Dalvin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Sorry bout the joystick remark I should check my facts more.
Grant @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Courtney, Microsoft is in it for the same reason as Sony and Nintendo.MONEY.
I still do not see how Sony seems to care about the gamer when you listen to Ken Kutaragi for a while.Also, one thing I have learned about Nintendo, one of the main ways they try to get you to buy their console is through acting as they care about you more than anyone else.
Also, did you know that M$ actually does care about the gamer as much as sony and nintendo.All 3 companies care about you simply because they need to.Why do they need to care about us.See, all of them know that the way they get you to buy their product is by making it good.If they fail to do that for us, then they lose money.
See, all companies care about you just as much.Just some try to act like they care more.
ItIsI @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
They are probably planning on copying the revolutionary aspect of the Nintendo Revolution. After all, all microsoft cares about is the money.
CorporateWhore @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
It's time to wake up and smell the coffee ... All these games companies, they want one thing from you ... your money. They do that by creating a brand that individuals buy into. For what ever reason we choose our favourite brands and we stick to them through thick and thin ... defending them with passion. No matter who we side with the only real winner is the corporations who sell us these products. And when people get on these forums (and other places) and argue, this is better than that, and so on, well they have you. They own you. You end up selling their product for them with a passion and in some cases anger, that they could never do in a 30 second ad on the TV. You don't get paid for this, you're selling their products for them for free, you're unpaid labour. It's a stroke of genius. But what would you have to talk about if you didn't have their products? What else have you got that fills you with such passion? Well ... what have you got outside of you consumer driven life? They're in control and someting tells me they always will be.
Eran Hawke @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
I liked Jet Set Radio. It is one of the only games I still enjoy for the Xbox.
Seti @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
ItIsI, give it up. That's just stupid.
Conde @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Sin Viclous..."But MS kept their word and rolled an awsome online experience for a great price!!!"... dude u are an idiot. there is like no freedom in xbox live. it bascily just puts u in a game. and if u wanna be in a game u choose, u have to be a friend with the person. what bull crap. and for the great price!?!?! u had to pay? wow a great price for me is free. oh hey look at that... ps2 online WAS free(execpt for final fantasy). WOW, now THATS a great price. plus u could go to lobby's anywhere in the world and play with people from slavokia if u wanted to
CorruptMind @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
I partly agree with CorporateWhore. It's true, but, it's also true that without companies "taking" your money and people selling them selves out, there would be no economy. Where do you think money comes from? It's just a big circle; you buy stuff->company gets money/government gets money->company pays you->you buy stuf and it goes on in an infinite circle. If you don't pay the companies, you don't met payed. So, technically you do get payed when you unknowingly sell their product. And, who cares how much money they get? As long as the games they make entertain you, you should be happy with them. Isn't that why we all buy games anyway?
Conde: I think thats why they made Xbox Live Silver free.... but they should've always had that...
BOB @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
Actually if you think $ony cares about the gamer you are loose a nut and a bolt.
Why do you think an electronics company mainly known for TVs and audio entered the gaming market? The same reason M$ did, to get the $$$$.
That is why built in memory cards, more controller ports (after the N64 had 4) and other essentials were boasted for the PS2 and left out or sold as add ons for the final (incomplete version).
And if you think that M$ boasts the specs around you should see $ony. Sony boasted realistic graphics with it's emotion engine with the same rubber ducks for the ps2. They also boasted aol support in response to the now deceased Dreamcast's online support. During this years E3 they posted up a big spec sheet full of numbers -dim wit people don't know what do- in an attempt to boast false spec superiority over the 360.
Also the large amount of factory ob. and the huge amount of -unshown/hidden from the publics- complaints about $ony's easily breakable problems also is a con in the $ony book.
Seeing that sony is supporting more features instead of selling them as add ons shows that they are threatened by other greedy corp.M$ and are attempting to show up the competition.
The only system makers that actually care about gamers are Nintendo and it's "system out" sister company, Sega.
BOB @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM
I have also heard reports in old PSM magazines that they are making an online server that will co$t $$$$$. Speculation that it was in construction for the ps2 has shifted that it is for the ps3.
Online was free for the PS2 because seperate servers were used by the seperate developers for their games. Sony doesn't have to pay for these small seperate servers so online is free.
XBox has a huge server connecting all games and xboxes as well as features. The server requires constant upgrades for new features and games to be added, thus the reason for paying as well as M$' own greed.