I've described this as the greatest year ever for video gaming, assuming of course you're an Xbox 360 gamer. Go figure, but Microsoft apparently agrees:
2007 will be a year to remember for Xbox 360 players – a packed release schedule offers a wide range of incredible titles including exclusive, genre-defining games such as Blue Dragon (Microsoft Game Studios - MGS), Project Gotham Racing 4 (MGS), Naruto Rise of a Ninja (Ubisoft), Viva Piñata: Party Animals (MGS), Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (Namco Bandai Games) and Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action (MGS), not to mention some of the highest scoring games of all time in the form of BioShock (2K Games), Mass Effect (MGS), The Orange Box (EA) and the legendary Halo 3 (MGS), all of which have already been released or are set to arrive before the end of the year.
From the end of summer to the festive period, Xbox 360 boasts over 60 new releases contributing to a portfolio of over 300 high-definition titles.
Xbox 360 continues to hold the record for highest games attach rate across the globe, at 6.3 games sold per console. With life-to-date sales of 13.4 million consoles worldwide this represents incredible software sales.
This brings up two related points, both of which are somewhat important to me:
1. Microsoft has maintained a list of original Xbox games that work on the Xbox 360. Because this list has always been so horribly formatted, I created my own version, which is both nicer looking and more accurate. However, this month, Microsoft released another update to the compatibility list, so I'll be updating my own list ASAP, hopefully today. Here's the thing: Now that we're two full years into the Xbox 360 life cycle, and there are over 300 original Xbox games on the list, this month's update will likely be the last I make to my version of the list. This topic just isn't as important now as it was two years ago.
2. With over 300 games now available for the Xbox 360, there's simply no way I can give this topic the ongoing attention it deserves. As such, I've decided to change the way I handle Xbox 360 reviews and articles on the SuperSite. Starting after the holidays, I will not be writing full-length reviews as I've been doing, but will rather write shorter write-ups, with ratings, perhaps through the blog. I'd like to change my coverage in the video game field to focus more on two things: The few stellar PC and 360 games that ship each year and the PC-to-360 connectivity features (Media Center, media sharing) that I've ignored so far. The weird thing is, I know some people will be freaked by this, while others will wonder what took so long. There's a lot going on here, but I still feel like no one really covers video games correctly. Too much of the "traditional" video game press is childish and full of profanity, which helps sell the notion that video games are not so much art as they are adolescent. I wish I could fix this, but clearly the industry is too far gone.
Anyway. I play a lot of video games, and that won't stop. Nor will the conversations about this. But I think it's time, two years in, to change the way this conversation is framed on the SuperSite. It's just getting too complicated and time-consuming to try and do it all.