The Exclusive Arms Race: 2009 Update (Special) @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on January 21, 2009

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

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Xbox 360 (23)

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures*

Alan Wake*

APB: All Points Bulletin*

Battlestations: Pacific*

Blood Bowl*

Champions Online*

Dead Island*

Divinity 2: Ego Draconis*

Halo Wars

Halo: Chronicles

Halo 3: ODST

Huxley*

Ninja Blade

Ninety-Nine Nights 2

Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad

Race Pro

Postal III*

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Stoked

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction*

Two Worlds: The Temptation*

Warhound*

Halo Wars, Star Ocean: The Last Hope

The golden goose and the achilles heel of the Xbox 360 is its ability to effortlessly accept ports of PC titles. This creates a boon for Microsoft's console by allowing it to host games that would be too much of a hassle to bring to the PS3 and Wii. However, this also hurts the console because these games are available in near identical form on the PC. While the PC may have become a niche platform in recent years, it still has a lot of passionate users who are dedicated to finding quality releases.

This leaves the Xbox 360 in the somewhat strange position of having more console exclusives, but fewer full exclusives. This is great for Xbox 360 owners without a hardcore gaming rig, but now so great for those that have an Xbox 360 in addition to souped up PC, as the platforms are almost identical.

However, that hasn't stopped Microsoft from attracting a variety of nifty titles for 2009 including a quartet of MMORPGs in the form of Huxley, APB, Age of Conan and Champions Online. This is in addition to another Square-Enix RPG (Star Ocean 4) and the first Onechanbara game to come to America (Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad). Is a game where girls in bikinis slice up zombies with swords a potential blockbuster? Of course not, but it's these kind of niche, second-tier games (like fellow Xbox 360 exclusive Earth Defense Force 2017) that gamers remember in the future.

And then there's Halo. With three Halo projects on tap for 2009, gamers may be Master Chiefed out by the end of the year, but it's unlikely that all of them will be released this year. In fact, I would be hugely shocked if Peter Jackson's Halo: Chronicles makes it out this year and a part of me thinks it will never be released.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 also has a few other exclusive aces up their sleeve that they could play in 2009. BioWare has begun prepping Mass Effect 2 for public display (it'll be at this year's Game Developer's Conference) even though it has yet to be officially announced. With Star Wars: The Old Republic still a year or two away, Mass Effect 2 could be BioWare's next big release, and there's been no hint of a PS3 version.

It's also important to note that this list is just a portion of the exclusives the Xbox 360 will have available in 2009. As is Microsoft's custom, a good portion of their (and their third party's) 2009 releases have yet to be announced. As Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's Director of Xbox Product Management, recently told Eurogamer: "I can safely say that if you're an Xbox 360 owner today, you will end 2009 with a whole slew of new features, new content, new partners, new games that today you don't know about."

Finally, no analysis of Xbox 360 exclusives should end without a mention of the Grand Theft Auto IV episodes, particularly Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned. While this list does not count downloadable episodes, I believe that Rockstar will collect both episodes in a retail release for Christmas.

The final page contains a look at the Wii's lineup and some final thoughts.