Richter Scale^® Articles

(First published in the May 23, 2005 issue of Jon Peddie’s TechWatch)

With the announcement of next generation consoles in triplicate during E3 last week, we hit the show floor to see what software publishers had to say, mostly with their actions, about their support for the boxes.

Universally, publishers indicated that they would certainly be support one or more of the next generation consoles at some point. But details were short in many cases. A number of publishers indicated that they would announce specific titles in development at some point after E3 as they did not want to distract their audience from current generation console titles they were working on or releasing. Others indicated that they were still in negotiations with the console makers.

It’s perhaps not well understood, but game console makers have enormous influence in the development of new titles for their consoles. Such influence includes required approval for the creative concept, on-going evaluation of the title during the development process, usability testing, conformance testing, and more. So in addition to facing internal resource allocation issues and deadlines for development, publishers need to also make sure the console makers stay appeased. One European publisher we spoke to complained that a title they had ready late last year and had announced for shipment in time for the Christmas game buying season, didn’t make it out until E3 because the console maker’s European and American offices kept ping ponging the product and its approval between each other, and telling the publisher it was the other’s responsibility. And without the console maker’s approval, they could not ship.

With respect to our man on the street (or on the show floor, in this case) survey, those who were willing to share specific titles were typically vague about release dates, as well as support for anything beyond the soonest to ship console, namely the Xbox 360. With one exception, no company was willing to publicly commit to support for the Nintendo Revolution. That should come as no surprise with Nintendo keeping details about the Revolution very close to the vest, however.

On the flip side, Electronic Arts announced quite publicly at the Xbox 360 media briefing six specific titles they intended to release at or near launch. They also showed yet another title in development at the Sony PS3 briefing earlier that day, and as if that weren’t enough, issued a press release stating that they actually had 25 games in development for next generation consoles. That means 18 more titles they will be telling us about in the coming months.

And Microsoft announced that more than 160 titles were in development for the Xbox 360, and that of those 25-40 would be available at or near the launch date later this year.

While the original intent of our research was to create a chart to show which games will be available on which combination of consoles, we found virtually no overlap in titles between the Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3, the stated reason being that the Playstation 3 launch date is approximately a half year after the anticipated launch date of the Xbox 360, and as stated before, publishers are taking a “first things first” attitude.

---

Titles Announced for the Microsoft Xbox 360:

Publisher (Developer)	Title
2K Games (3DRealms)	Prey
2K Games (Bethesda Softworks)	Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2K Sports	Amped 3
2K Sports	NBA 2K6
2K Sports	NHL 2K6
2K Sports	Top Spin 2
Activision	Call of Duty 2**
Activision	Quake IV
Activision	Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland
Activision (Neversoft)	GUN
Atari	Test Drive Unleashed
EIDOS	Tomb Raider Legend
Electronic Arts	FIFA 06
Electronic Arts	Madden NFL 06
Electronic Arts	NBA Live 06
Electronic Arts	Need For Speed Most Wanted
Electronic Arts	The Godfather: The Game
Electronic Arts	Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
Majesco	Darkness*
Majesco	Demonic**
Microsoft Studios (Bizarre Creations)	Gotham Racing 3
Microsoft Studios (Epic Games)	Gears of War**
Microsoft Studios (Mistwalker)	Blue Dragon
Microsoft Studios (Mistwalker)	Lost Odyssey
Microsoft Studios (Rare)	Kameo: Elements of Power
Microsoft Studios (Rare)	Perfect Dark: Zero
Midway	Stranglehold***
NAMCO	City Killers
Sega of America	Condemned: Criminal Origins
Sega of America	Full Auto
Square Enix	Final Fantasy XI
Tecmo	Dead or Alive 4
THQ	Saint’s Row
THQ	The Outfit
Ubisoft	Ghost Recon 3
Vivendi Universal Games	Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Vivendi Universal Games	Scarface

* = Announced for both Xbox 360 and PS3

** = Exclusive to the Xbox 360

*** = Midway says Stranglehold will be available for all three next generation consoles

---

Sony PS3 Games:

Publisher (Developer)	Title
Bandai	Gundam
Capcom	Devil May Cry 4
Electronic Arts	Fight Night 06
Evolution Studio	MotorStorm
Guerrilla	KillZone 2
Incognito	WarHawk
Insomniac	I-8
Koei	Ni-oH
Konami	Metal Gear Solid 4
LiverPool Studio	Formula 1
Majesco	Darkness*
Midway	Stranglehold***
Namco	Tekken
Ninja Theory	Heavenly Sword
Polyphony Digital Inc	Vision GT
Rockstar	Untitled**
Sega	Fifth Phantom Saga
Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan	Eyedentify
Square Enix	Final Fantasy VII
Square Enix	Final Fantasy XII
Soho	Getaway Screen Test
Ubisoft	Killing Day

* = Announced for both Xbox 360 and PS3

** = This may be a sequel to Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver – we only saw a Western gunslinger sort of clip at the Sony PS3 briefing from Rockstar.

*** = Midway says Stranglehold will be available for all three next generation consoles

---

Nintendo Revolution

Publisher (Developer)	Title
Midway	Stranglehold*
Nintendo	Metroid Prime 3
Nintento	Legend of Zelda**

* = Midway says Stranglehold will be available for all three next generation consoles

** = A commitment was made to a new Zelda product on the Revolution, but the exact title was not revealed.