Next-Gen Console Exclusives Explored

SeventhStar writes "Siliconera has an article with a long list of exclusive titles broken down by next-gen console. The Playstation 3 only has a few exclusive games at the moment; 29 are third-party, with 12 are made by Sony. Meanwhile Microsoft has 48 Xbox 360 exclusive games, with 23 of them are developed internally. However it looks like the real winner for exclusive games is the Wii. There are 39 titles only for the Wii and even ported games are going to play differently. When you adjust the amount of exclusive games on the Xbox 360 for its one year head start, the Wii has more original games coming out for it. Since console exclusives help determine which console to purchase is the Wii in a good spot?"

Re:

[KDR_11k]

Vapor doesn't have people playing it at special events. Vapor is stuff that promises to come and gets delayed all the time, not stuff that comes out on time but hasn't been released for general consumption yet.

Novel concept

[Mr. Samuel]

Why don't we wait and see how many of these games are good, and then make our decisions?

Re:

[Yvan256]

Because the usual "500 games available" marketing crap doesn't require good games.

Of course

[Stormwatch]

Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Starfox, Pokémon, the list goes on and on... like them or not, Nintendo has the strongest first-party lineup.

Re:

[Fozzyuw]

Exactly, when you want to talk 'exclusive', you cannot get very far without talking about franchise names. Afterall, what does Sony have? I was going to say Crash Bandicot [wikipedia.org] but a quick search shows he wasn't 'exclusive'. The only 2 franchises I can think of for Sony is Twisted Metal and the Everquest games (Champions of Norath, etc).

However, with that said, franchise games won't 'sell' millions of consoles. Just look at the Gamecube. I bought that over the PS2 due to primarly Zelda and Metroid. The G

Re:Of course

[rtechie]

Exactly, when you want to talk 'exclusive', you cannot get very far without talking about franchise names. Afterall, what does Sony have?

Who modded this up?

Ever heard of Final Fantasy? Or Metal Gear Solid? Or Grand Theft Auto? And yeah, even though MGS2 was ported to the XBOX, as were the GTA games, they had long periods of exclusivity on the PS2. And that helped the PS2 a lot. The PS2 beat the XBOX mainly because it had a LOT more games, just like the PS1 vs. N64. With such a huge library the PS2 offered "something for everyone", look at the success of the relatively bizarre Katamari Damacy and Guitar Hero.

Re:

[Fozzyuw]

Ever heard of Final Fantasy? Or Metal Gear Solid? Or Grand Theft Auto?

MGS is not an exclusive francise to Sony, neither is GTA as you can find them on XBox and PC (like you said). You can also find FF games on the PC as well as other 'old' consoles before Sony. So, like I said, they're not exclusive like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. Until the day Nintendo goes the way of Sega, where Sonic can now be found on different systems, you won't be able to play any flavor of Nintendo 'franchise' games on a diffe

Re:

[rtechie]

MGS is not an exclusive francise to Sony, neither is GTA as you can find them on XBox and PC (like you said). You can also find FF games on the PC as well as other 'old' consoles before Sony.

I'm not sure I understand this logic. It does not matter that that MGS and FF appeared on "old" consoles. You can also get the only Zelda games on Windows. These games are popular NOW (FF has been popular for a long time) and they are Sony exclusives NOW. We're talking about the latest generation consoles, right?

Of cour

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Because once you hit 13, a game isn't fun if you're not killing hookers.

They don't interest me

[PopeRatzo]

The titles you mention all sound like old-fashioned cartoon games to me. That's not a bad thing, and there's lots of nostalgia about old Nintendo about now, but it just doesn't give me cause to look forward to the Wii.

However, I'm glad to see that these console games are becoming more differentiated from more serious-minded games for the PC. I don't really care for the idea that everyone lumps all tech-games in the same category. Donkey Kong and Black and White don't exist in the same galaxy, and Eve-Onl

Re:

[donaldm]

I think people have to decide which gaming next gen machine (or machines) they are going to get, when they are going to get it and what games they expect to run on them. Not everyone likes First Person Shooters or even Role Playing Games for that matter. Some people like photo realism while others like cartoony style games. There are so many styles and types of games out there now and it really comes down to what you really like and enjoy playing.

Personally I have always liked the Metroid and Zelda series w

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I beg to differ. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and to a lesser extent God of War, make Sony's first-party lineup easily as strong (if not as vast).

Re:

[kmhebert]

Nintendo is in my opinion the best games publisher in the industry. I can't think of a single bad Nintendo game I have ever played, except perhaps Wild Gunman which lacks depth. That's a pretty amazing track record. Nintendo only releases games for Nintendo consoles which is why I always get Nintendo's consoles. With the Wii control scheme I feel like Nintendo has a double bonus going into this generation. One month to go, I really can't wait!

So the real winner is Wii...

[hal2814]

...even though it's not because the 360 has more exclusives. Isn't the Wii getting enough good press on its own merits that we don't have make excuses as to why it doesn't have as many exclusives in the pipeline?

Re:

[SSCGWLB]

Having the cheapest console on the market, with magic flying dildos for controllers, isn't going to help.

Well, it might not help for male gamers...

Re:

[Purity Of Essence]

So dildo's are now "for kids"? Sicko.

Re:

[OmegaBlac]

Having the cheapest console on the market, with magic flying dildos for controllers, isn't going to help.

Ah so Nintendo plans to corner the 24-45 year old feminist, lesbian, and estranged wives market! Brilliant!

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

If a console has the highest number of exclusive titles, but 90% of them suck, then it doesn't matter.

The console with the highest number of good exclusive titles will have the advantage. Given Nintendo's history of making most of its own exclusive titles, and designing them in such a way that they seem "too childish" to most gamers, I'm betting the Wii's lead won't help them that much.

The Wii will only win if Nintendo can successfully overcome the American audience's perception that Nintendo is "for kids".

Re:

[hmccabe]

"with magic flying dildos for controllers"
"teens were looking for a homoerotic wrestling game"

I'm a music major, so I never took any business classes. To whom would I speak if I wanted to sell a game idea to a software company?

Re:Only good exclusives help

[earthbound kid]

If a console has the highest number of exclusive titles, but 90% of them suck, then it doesn't matter.

Um, Playstation much? I mean, I know 1996 was a looong time ago, but to remember how crappy 90% of PS1 games were compared to N64 games, you don't have to think back that far, you can just go to the games section of any pawn shop or thrift store and see rack after rack of games that quite obviously suck so hard you wonder how on earth they were ever produced.

The fact is that in every generation, the machine with the most games wins, period. So near as I can tell, it does not matter much if those games are good or bad. Look at the Game Boy: it bested competitor after competitor on the strength of its library and its battery life, vastly inferior graphics be damned. Similarly, the DS is beating the PSP not just because it has a crazy stylus, but also because the PSP has very few games.

If you want to predict the sales of a console, what matters most is the number of games published for it, nothing else.

Re:

[justchris]

Normally I would agree with you. I remember looking for games to rent for the n64 and PS1 at the same time, and having to trawl through hordes of dreck to find one decent PS1 game, and looking for a few seconds to find something to play on n64. PS2 has a much better signal to noise ratio than PS1 ever did, but it's still pretty bad, the sheer amount of crap that exists for the console. Over 1000 games, and less than 100 are safe to touch.

However, this doesn't prove out, as there are actually more PSP g

Re:

[earthbound kid]

Hmm, is that so? It sure feels like there are more DS games, or at least it felt that way when I was living in Japan (until this August). Of course, that might explain why the DS is doing incredibly well in Japan and only pretty well in the States: Japanese developers released a bunch of junky DS games (-> big hardware sales) but didn't bother to translate them for the US market (-> medium hardware sales).

Re:

[justchris]

Actually, that's likely true. There are a lot of DS games available in Japan that have never been localised for other markets. Most notably the Simple Series of games by...umm, D3 I think. They put out cheap, fun little games like Bowling (literally, that was the name of the game) at budget prices. If I had to estimate, I'd say there are probably about 33% more DS games available in Japan than there are in the US, which may explain why the DS sells 120k units a week minimum.

Re:

[Fozzyuw]

Actually, what you discribe is caused by 2 reasons I know of...

• Superiour sales of a console.
• Much easier / cheaper to produce a game for a console.

In the case of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System... yes, the 'first' one), Nintendo squized 3rd party support for all kinds of nickels and dimes to produce a game on their system... only, no matter what crap they made, it was going to make a profit (well, almost always), simply due to the fact that EVERYONE had a NES. This doesn't mean everyone would bu

Re:

[ookaze]

The fact is that in every generation, the machine with the most games wins, period

I can agree with that only if you mean that havnig the most games is the consequence of the console winning.
If what you said was true, no new console could win against older ones.
The XBox360 would be sure to win too, which seems doubtful to me.

So near as I can tell, it does not matter much if those games are good or bad. Look at the Game Boy: it bested competitor after competitor on the strength of its library and its battery

Re:

[c0d3h4x0r]

To whomever marked my second post as "Flamebait":

I'd love to know in what alternate universe a calmly-delivered legitimate line of logical thought constitutes "Flamebait".

Oh, wait, that's right -- it's the Slashdot universe, where anything negative said about any company beloved by fanboys is automatically mis-moderated as either "Troll" or "Flamebait".

Coupled with this...

[GweeDo]

Watch these [wii.com] and tell me you don't want to try the console out. These people honestly look like they are just having fun. Some of these also really made me understand the possibilities for the casual gamer with this system.

Happy, happy, happy!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow! I can finally buy happiness!

I mean, time and again companies show my how happy other people are using their products, but I never seem to get the same happiness they portray. What could be wrong with me, or perhaps I'm not getting the same product that they were happy to own. Do these companies switch their products on me, selling me one that doesn't make people happy, while showing off the ones that do?

But this one, I believe it's real. I trust that when Nintendo shows me that people who use their

Re:Coupled with this...

[OmegaBlac]

These people honestly look like they are just having fun.

Just like the people in those "I have congenital herpes" commercials I bet. Of course reality may not match what you see in videos or ads. Marketing droids would have multiple orgasm daily if all consumers thought exactly like you about promotional videos and the products they are trying to sell.

Re:

[Dorceon]

The people in those herpes commercials are always kayaking. I'd be disinfecting the kayak rental store right about now.

Re:

[earthbound kid]

My big complaint is people in herpes commercials are always going on dates!!

There are two possible conclusions from this:

1.) Be careful who you date.

2.) Tired of being single? Get herpes, then you can finally start taking longs walks on the beach!

Re:

[The-Bus]

Well, Nintendo just has a knack to hire extremely good actors I guess.

Re:

[DrXym]

An immediate question from watching these people. Why is everybody standing up?

Re:

[neonstz]

I'm in for $100. If it flops, you win. If it is a success, I win.

Re:

[NineNine]

Cool. How are we gonna determine whether it's a "flop" or a "success"?

Re:

[neonstz]

One way is whether Nintendo makes any money or not on the Wii (within a reasonable timeframe).

Re:

[Hes Nikke]

One way is whether Nintendo makes any money or not on the Wii (within a reasonable timeframe).

By that metric, Nintendo has already won. They're going to sell the Wii with actual markup, rather than taking a loss like Sony and Microsoft, and all signs point to stock shortage.

I'm going to take a turn at predicting the future of the video game market. Nintendo is going to P0wn the FPS market in the next generation. The wiimote has the potential to make FPSs more playable than keyboards/mice. Just watch this vi [google.com]

Re:

[ChildeRoland]

I'm not sure that Red Steel is the best example for what an FPS can do on the Wii. From the most recent reviews I've read the bounding box that the cursor is in is way too big. The only way to turn your character is to move the cursor to the edges of this box. As long as both this and the sensitivity are adjustable I think that there are great possibilites for this game. For my money, I'll wait till I can play a demo to say if it'll work or not.

Re:

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"By that metric, Nintendo has already won. They're going to sell the Wii with actual markup, rather than taking a loss like Sony and Microsoft, and all signs point to stock shortage."

Well... no.. it's not as simple as that. If Nintendo builds 6 million machines and only sells 2 million, they'll lose money. They'll also have to recoup all the money they spent on developing and marketing the machine.

I'm just being needlessly nitpicky, though. 'Success' would have to be defined. The GameCube was successful

Errrr... Your going to loose lots of money

[technoextreme]

Uuuh... OK. Looks like a cheap gimmick to me. I predict that this will be what sinks Nintendo. I personally think it's going to one of the biggest flops in gaming history. I'd put hard money on that, in fact.

No offense but the Wii's control system in some ways can almost be thought as the same type for the DS so much so that Trauma Center and WarioWare has it's own version for the Wii. The wand is the substitue for the stylus. The DS was seen as a cheap gimmic but see where it is now. Couple that with a gre

Re:PS3 Current Exclusives - 104 Total

[RichardMarks]

If my quick sum is correct.

Re:

[justchris]

It isn't. Untitled projects cannot be counted because they don't exist. Until it has a title, the chances of it ever existing are stil pretty small, unless it's already been determined to be a franchise game. Even after it has a title, it still doesn't exist.

Secondly, how can you count Bomberman or any Sudoku game as being exclusive? Go ahead, name one system since the release of the PS1 that has not had Bomberman on it? The Ngage maybe? Or wait, didn't it have a copy of Bomberman?

Also, that list

Re:

[RichardMarks]

"It isn't. Untitled projects cannot be counted because they don't exist."

Wrong.

Those titles are straight from the publishers themselves. Many of those games like the Naughty Dog title we already have released media from.

"Also, that list is every single announced game for the PS3, not just games scheduled between release and March 2007. "

Wrong.

All the non-exclusive PS3 titles were trimmed.

Re:PS3 Current Exclusives - 104 Total

[justchris]

"It isn't. Untitled projects cannot be counted because they don't exist."

Wrong.

Those titles are straight from the publishers themselves. Many of those games like the Naughty Dog title we already have released media from.

Would you like a list of titles that have names, video footage, even gameplay footage that never saw the light of day? Do I need even mention Duke Nukem Forever? A game can cease to exist at any point, and the fact remains that until it has a name, the chances of it being vaporware are much higher. To be honest, a name is no more proof of existence than video footage is, but we have to draw the line somewhere. "Also, that list is every single announced game for the PS3, not just games scheduled between release and March 2007. "

Wrong.

All the non-exclusive PS3 titles were trimmed.

...okay, let me rephrase that. That is every single announced exclusive game for the PS3. Although, there is no way to verify that each of the untitled games is exclusive, since several of those companies have announced untitled games for the 360 & Wii as well, in the same genre's. What proof do we have those aren't the same games?

Regardless, the fact remains the scope of the article was for a specific time period, and that list exceeds that time period. If you're going to go with that list, even including the untitled games, then you have to reasonably do the same for the other 2 ssytems, so you can't really compare that list to the list given by TFA, because you're not utilizing the same restrictions under which the article was operating.

Re:PS3 Current Exclusives

[ConfusedSelfHating]

Untitled ~RPG~ ~TBD, TBA~

I can't wait until this comes out!

Re:

[OmegaBlac]

* Untitled ~Shooter~ ~TBD, TBA~

For a second there I thought this was Duke Nukem Forever! ;)

Play mechanics change more

[tepples]

Nintendo has a tendancy to use the same characters with a slightly different plot

And a greatly changed play mechanic. Does Mario Kart DS play anything like New Super Mario Bros.?

Re:

[OmegaBlac]

And a greatly changed play mechanic. Does Mario Kart DS play anything like New Super Mario Bros.?

Maybe you should compare New Super Mario Bros. to the [b]endless[/b] line of Super Mario platform clones that Nintendo has released and continues to re-release. And what makes Mario Kart DS different than the previous incarnations of Mario Kart on their other systems?

Kart != Party != Dr. != Golf != Tennis != DDR

[tepples]

Maybe you should compare New Super Mario Bros. to the endless line of Super Mario platform clones that Nintendo has released and continues to re-release.

So far, there have been only eight Super Mario 2D platform games: SMB1, SMB2, SMB3, SML, SMW, SML2, Yoshi's Island, and a long gap until NSMB. (Does Super Princess Peach count?) There have been twice that many Mega Man games on TV consoles alone.

And what makes Mario Kart DS different than the previous incarnations of Mario Kart on their other systems?

Re:

[cowscows]

Honestly, I don't understand the hostility towards franchises. What's wrong with a company making sequels to succesful games? There's obviously a market for them. Nintendo practically defined the platformer with SMB, and their mario games are very consistently of high quality. If Rockstar games wants to keep improving their GTA series, good for them, it's been an excellent series of games, and I'm sure they can make it better. Valve can make FPS games for the next fifty years for all I care, as long as they

Re:

[Purity Of Essence]

I suspect you're just trolling, but I'll bite. With very few exceptions each Nintendo "sequel" features innovation in gameplay over its predecessors. And Mario being "whored out into every possible genre that you can think of" doesn't really fit in with your conjecture that the games are the all the same.

Re:

[XMultiply]

That's a bad comparison. Yes, Mario, Metroid, Zelda etc.. have been rehashed over and over again by Nintendo, but at least they are actually different games, each unique in their own right. Mario may be the star of a game, but at least you're playing something completely different then the last time his name was on a game. EA Sports titles usually have added features to the same ol' engine for a number of years. It's quite common to read EA Sports Reviews that tend to say "not much has changed from last y

Re:Exclusive != Original

[BKX]

Mario has been whored out into every possible genre that you can think of.

Exactly. Mario has been used in completely different ways with different storylines throught out his life (you know what I mean by his life). Mario is really a brand. Everytime he appears, it's in a new game with a different story and new style of gameplay. EA Sports games on the other hand are the same game with better graphics and updated rosters. Other than that the differences are incremental and unoriginal.

You can't say that Mario games are unoriginal just because they used the same set of characters over again. That'd be like saying Shakespear was unoriginal for writing with the Latin alphabet.

Re:

[justchris]

I'll give you that Mario games don't have a story. In fact, they intentionally don't have a story, as that detracts from the focus on gameplay. Well, with the exception of Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Paper Mario: TYD, Mario & Luigi and Mario & Luigi: PiT. Those all had actual story, but we'll ignore that for now.

But Zelda and Metroid in fact have a lot of story. The 1000 or so internet sites dedicated to nothing else than determining the timeline of the universe and discussing the minutia of every

Re:

[twosmokes]

That'd be like saying Shakespear was unoriginal for writing with the Latin alphabet.

It'd be more like if 1/3 of all Shakespeare stories had Romeo and Juliet in them. Do you think Shakespeare would still hold up if he couldn't be bothered to come up with something new to write about?

Re:

[BKX]

True, but a lot of the best writers wrote whole series with the same characters. Those are widely considered original and lauded heavily, even by the most stuck up of literary geeks. Think Star Wars, Star Trek and Asimov. And also realize that Shakespear really was just rewriting older works from Greece and Rome in an updated, more modern (for the time) style.

If all Mario games looked about the same and just had slightly different graphics and different levels with exactly the same style of gameplay, then I

Re:

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Funny that people complain about EA and their sports games being unoriginal, but Nintendo has a tendancy to use the same characters with a slightly different plot and no one criticizes them for a lack of innovation in games."

I love when this argument comes up. Heh.

Compare SMB 1, 2, and 3 to Sonic 1, 2, and 3. Superficially they're very similar, but play-wise, you have to totally re-adjust to play any of those three games. Try playing Mario 3 then go back to Mario 1. Ouch. The original Sonic trilogy fe

Re:

[jpardey]

I read the title for the article, and I thought "I wonder if this is Zonk's article." Turned out it was, so of course the Wii's 39 games mean more than the PS3's 41. Also, the Xbox360 has been available for what, a year? I would expect a few exclusive games by now. Looks to me like Sony will have the most games (as they have in the last two generations, if I recall correctly) followed by Microsoft and Nintendo. Still, who knows, with the PS3's high price tag, more game companies might end up going to Xbox36

Re:Huh?

[badboy_tw2002]

The summary doesn't match the article either, which says "35 for sony, 18 of them in house."

The real thing to think about are titles that _aren't_ going to Wii but _are_ going to PS3/360. The big one that comes to mind right off the bat is GTA 4 (hate it, love it, its going to be a huge title). I'm wondering if the Wii's percieved underperformance will cause devs to shy away and have "next-gen" mean 360/PS3 only.

Also, is this article really a surprise to anyone? Nintendo always has the strongest 1st party titles because they have the strongest lineup of characters and games people love.

Re:

[EmperorKagato]

"I'm wondering if the Wii's percieved underperformance will cause devs to shy away and have "next-gen" mean 360/PS3 only."

Are you a developer?

Re:

[jpardey]

I would think that the devs will do no such things, but their higher ups in PR, to make the games seem more mature, would not be as likely to have the developers make the games for the Wii. However, everyone remembers Goldeneye 64. I mean, even I remember it, and I have never owned a console. I think the main thing, as everyone says, is Nintendo's licensing.

Personally I would want (if I could afford it) a PS3. It's not just about the graphics. It's about Linux, a hard drive on the "cheap" model, GTA IV, th

Re:

[DrXym]

The XBox 360 has been out for a year so of course it has a lot of exclusives. Give the Wii and PS3 a year and they'll have a lot of exclusives too.

I'm not sure measurement of exclusives is necessarily a good way to compare systems anyway. The GameCube had a disproportionate number of exclusives and not for a good reason. In the GameCube's case it was because the system trailed into 3rd place and 3rd parties could not be bothered with it. Even if the Wii takes off, it too will need a lot of exclusives, sim

Re:

[VanillaBabies]

You make a good point, as of right now the PS3 has 0 games, and 0 of them are exclusive. You've got a good head on your shoulders.

Re:

[salle_from_sweden]

Are you sure it isn't a math lesson, couse isn't 29+12=41 (which would have been more than the wii's amount and wii was supposed to be the winner, although it still had less than x360) and the number of sony's inhouse created games are 20 (or 18 if you're picky).

Besides I count to 49 games x360 games in the article (48 if we don't count xbox live arcade unplugged), ps3 had 35 (with 20 made by sony and sony online studios), wii had 38

So the sumary had alot of factual errors.

on a side note: I think t

Actually

[brkello]

as it stands now, the XBOX 360 is 100% exclusive titles :P (minus ports of previous gen games of course)

Re:

[KDR_11k]

And let's not forget the PC games.

What i see

[hurfy]

I see a pretty large chunk for each of them.

Might be interesting, i didnt know that many were exclusives on ps3 and 360.

*assuming exclusive means exclusive

A note to the publishers:

Sales would not be hurt by having a name that is pronouncable should one want to go to a store and like ASK for it ;)

Miyasato Miyoshi Kyoudai Naizou: Sega Golf Club

WTF? Thank god for subtitles eh ;)
There was a Wii title that sounded like my cat hacking up a furball too.

Re:

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

those non-pronouncable ones are (here's a hint) going to be released in Japan. JAAA-PAN. A place to the west of North America (or very far east, depending on how you look at it) where people can pronounce those names because they speak Japanese. I know it's a tough concept, but keep going to school and you too may grasp it some day.

Forgot one

[Joe The Dragon]

windows vista
Halo 2 pc

Not all about exclusives

[Baldrake]

In that list, I didn't see a single game that would cause me to buy one console over another. The truth is, with a handful of exceptions, the best games get produced for all of the consoles. It will be interesting to see how well the non-exlusive games run on the different platforms.

My guess is that there will be little to differentiate the XBox 360 from the PS3, which would be bad news for Sony given the price differential. Nintendo has some opportunity if, for example, Madden is just plain more fun with

console wars

[deadstatue]

number of games in this particular gen systems dont mean as much as they once did.not for hardcore gamers anyway.nintendo may have 1000 games at launch,but unless i can play all of them "old school"(as in no motion detection) i wont have anything to do with it. its a novel idea, seems fun but doesnt leave the door open for 12 hour zelda binges,without making your arms numb,which ive become very fond of over the years.