Written by John Scalzo  on January 21, 2009

Special: Our 2009 analysis of the exclusive titles for each console.

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It has been more than a year since Gaming Target's last analysis of exclusive titles coming to the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. In that time the Wii has cemented itself as the king of exclusives (and shovelware) while the Xbox 360 has managed to force a multiplatform release out of two of the PS3's biggest games (Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy XIII).

In this update, we focus solely on exclusive titles scheduled to be released in 2009. But what does and does not constitute an "exclusive"? Our rules for inclusion in the Exclusive Arms Race are:

Eligibility Rules 1. These are "Console Exclusives." If a game appears on the PC and only one console, it's exclusive to that console. Also, due to the limitations of the DS and PSP, any game that appears on only one console and a handheld is considered exclusive to that console. While the list is made up of "Console Exclusives," starred games (*) are titles that are also available on the PC. 2. Downloadable games and content packs will not be included. Only disc-based games qualify for inclusion. 3. "Next-Gen Exclusives" are counted, but noted with a hash mark (#). For example, the PS2 game Rygar: The Legendary Adventure is being remade on the Wii as Rygar: The Battle of Argus. 4. No "fantasy games." These lists only include formally announced games by a publisher and have at least a working title. 5. The list focuses on North American games. Import titles that are likely to come to America, but are officially unannounced, are still counted. Future updates may drop these titles if no American release date is announced.

So with the rules laid down, here's how each console ranks in total number of exclusives scheduled to be released in 2009:



But to extract any meaning from these raw numbers we have to dig deeper. What follows is an in-depth analysis of each console's exclusives and what it means in relation to the others:

PlayStation 3 (16)

The Agency*

Cross Edge

DC Universe Online*

God of War III

Heavy Rain

Infamous

Killzone 2

LA Noire

MAG: Massive Action Game

MLB 09: The Show#

Quantum Theory

SingStar: Volume 3

Twisted Metal PS3

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Warriors Orochi Z

White Knight Chronicles


God of War III, Killzone 2

As is usually the case, the PS3 has the fewest exclusives by a wide margin. First party games also continue to make up a high percentage of its exclusives. In fact, only four titles aren't being published by Sony: LA Noire (Rockstar), Warriors Orochi Z (Koei), Cross Edge (NIS America) and Quantum Theory (Tecmo). And rumors abound that LA Noire is going multiplatform. But Sony itself has a lot of fingers in a lot of different genres and plans to bring a lot of great exclusives to the PS3 in 2009.



First and foremost are the next iterations of the God of War, Killzone and Uncharted franchises. There is also the impressive Heavy Rain and intense Infamous. But after that, things get a bit shakey. A title card at the end of Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty revealed that more Ratchet & Clank will be coming in 2009, but will it be another downloadable game or a longer, disc-based title? White Knight Chronicles, The Agency and DC Universe Online could all slip to 2010. And the complete lack of information about Zipper's MAG: Massive Action Game and the next Twisted Metal do not bode well for a 2009 release for either of those games either. With Sony's penchant for announcing their release schedule years in advance, it's unlikely they have any more surprises in store for the PS3 in 2009.

And then there's Afrika, the real Gran Turismo 5 and the untitled Team Ico game, three big games that could be released in 2009, but likely won't (and again, are all published by Sony). As time goes on, it looks more and more likely that Afrika will never leave Japan. There were rumors that the game would be published in America as National Geographic: Africa after the magazine announced they would be publishing games, but that looks like it was more wishful thinking and speculation than anything concrete. Gran Turismo 5 would be a nice 2009 release seeing as how the "taste" of GT5, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was released over eight months ago, but Polyphany Digital has said a 2010 release is more likely. Finally, PS3 owners are excited over the next Team Ico game, but right now it has no title, no release date and it doesn't even officially exist. All we have is a single screenshot of a rope going down a hole.

Almost seems like a metaphor for Sony's tumble into third place in market share and number of exclusives.

Continue on to the next page for an analysis of the Xbox 360 and Wii's exclusive lineups.