Having just watched Microsoft's Press event for E3 2007, I am extremely impressed. I don't have much interest in the Xbox 360, but the games shown for Games for Windows were amazing. Two immediately spring to mind:

Call of Duty 4

This games looks, sounds and plays amazing. The presentation is truly a unique achievement for a game of it's type. They've ditched the World War II setting (finally) and placed it in a fictional modern day Russia, near Chernobyl. The visuals are a step up from anything we've seen before, especially in the details. A blade of grass looks photo-realistic. The attempt at a narrative for this game looks to be an interesting new direction as well. Of course, the previous games had this too, but the style in which this one is told is refreshing. I'll definately be keeping my eye on this one as it gets closer to release.

Gears of War

Not only does it feature content that the Xbox 360 games doesn't have, but it supports the Xbox 360 controller as well, meaning that the exact same gameplay experience can be had on the PC. The new boss that Cliffy B fought in the demo was absolutely breathtaking. This is definately a console port that has been worth waiting for, since it seems that it will lose nothing in translation and gain even more!

Other Games for Windows games of interest included Age of Empires, Lost Planet and Viva Pinata. It looks as though this holiday season is going to be the thing that pushes me to buy a Vista enabled PC. I was truly impressed with what Microsoft rolled out for Games for Windows. PC gaming is alive and well. It may just be arguably the best platform to game on these days.

I think that it would have been the greatest shortage if  Brawl, Mario Galaxy would come out faster. Stuffed_Monkey

It's not going to be Smash Brothers Brawl or Mario Galaxy that sells systems. Those games only cater to the Nintendo fanboys. What's going to sell systems is the fitness software combined with the exercise channel. After six months of the fitness software and excercise channel being released, we're going to see worldwide demand for the console triple. Then it really will be the greatest shortage of all time.

Meh....even if it turns out to be an excellent high scoring game, which is overly hopeful in my opinion, it's still just a Spiderman game. Spiderman hasn't had too many good video games. I can't think of one that was above average.

A well thought out and nicely worded version of the same old arguments I read here.

What's your goal from writing this? Was it to get somebody like me to respond to you? Was it to express your opinions? Was it to try and change the opinions of others?

I'm not flaming you, I'm genuinely interested in your motives as your post doesn't read like all the other tat on this board. 

hoursfordimes

I guess my motivation for posting this was just to see if other people are feeling the same way I am about this, that's all. While this has always happened within the video game industry, I feel that it is an increasing trend....more so than previous generations (except with Atari's systems). I'm wondering, if this trend continues, could the same thing happen to current systems as with what happened to Atari?

It has been a trend that started on portable gaming systems and has now spilled over into the console and even the PC. Old games are being revamped, remade and reused to launch newer systems. There isn't too much of a problem for us gamers I suppose, but for developers and publishers, I think it actually dilutes the final product. A diluted final product means less profit.

Back in the days when Atari, Colecovision and Intellivision ruled them all, there weren't many set "trends" in gaming. One trend that soon arose was creating sequels with slightly different graphical arrangements or updates. This seemed to work well in arcades, so Atari, in their infinate wisdom, thought they'd use the same strategy to launch new systems. After the Atari 2600 came the Atari 5200, that launched with....almost no exclusive titles. All of the biggest titles werle slight graphical upgrades of the 2600 versions. Even worse, Atari continued to release 2600 versions of any new 5200 games, therefore making the 5200 even less appealling. Not surprisingly, the Atari 5200 flopped. That didn't stop Atari from going head to head with the NES with the Atari 7800. While the 7800's backward compatibility with 2600 games (oddly not 5200 games though) made it a more appealing package, Atari still launched the 7800 with games like Ms. Pac-man, Centipede, Pole Position II, Asteriods, etc...games that could still all be found on the 2600! Atari then readied itself for the Lynx and Jaguar fiascos with original software, but honestly, since they hadn't made much new console software since 1977 at this point, they weren't much good at it. It seemed this trend disappeared with Atari.....yet now it's looking to come back with a vengence.

First of all, let's look at Vista's flagship title. Halo 2. Now admittedly, there are some bells and whistles in the form of a new map pack and level editor....but let's face it... anyone who wanted to play the original Halo 2 did so on the Xbox during the fall of 2004. Halo 2's online multiplayer still lives on the 360's Xbox Live. How many PC gamers are clamoring to play this game? As far as first person shooters go on the PC, there are alot more interesting experiences out there than Halo 2, in single player and multiplayer. Don't get me wrong....I'm not particularily interested in dissing Halo 2, it's a groundbreaking game...but the game is almost 3 years old at this point.

These problems aren't limited to the PC. Handhelds, ever since the Gameboy Color's launch in 1999, have always launched with a couple of console "hand me downs". That has been forgivable, because its always nice to have a previously "limited to a console" game available for play on the go. At least that is one new feature......portability.

Nintendo seems to have taken this idea and run with it for the launch and continued life of the most popular (as far as sales go) console on the market this generation, the Nintendo Wii. First they launched with an excellent tech demo (Wii Sports) and a really great Gamecube game called "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". Now six months into the consoles life, the most anticipated upcoming games or popular current games are: Prince of Persia Rival Swords (a great Gamecube game), Resident Evil Wii edition (another stellar Gamecube game), Super Paper Mario (a previously known Gamecube game) and Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn (another previous Gamecube game). The Wii for all it's unique control schemes, has a library of games that can be played on or even came from the Gamecube....and that was supposed to be the #3 champion in the last console race? Nintendo went from #3 to #1 by changing their control scheme, not thier library of games. The library of games for the Wii looks to be most of the same games that are on Gamecube now. Now that's an amazing feat!

These are the two most obvious examples I can think of. If this is a trend that continues, we might find ourselves buying the same game over and over every 5 years. It's strange to think that even though technology advances and the types of games there are becomes more and more complex, we'll still spend most of our time playing old software on a new system...when the truth is, a previous system with the same game in collecting dust somewhere in our closets. The irony is...amusing.

Sorry. Played Halo 1. Thought it was OK. Player Halo 2, thought it was so-so. The online part of the game was good, but it got old after a while. Halo 3 looks like more of the same. I think the Halo franchise is winding down.

Gears of War is where the action is these days. That game is amazing.

Halo is now pretty much for Halo fans. I don't think Halo 3 will sell as many copies as Halo 2 did.

Since we all know that the GBA page will be pulled down soon, it's unlikely that the GBA will have a space in the Gamespot Game of the Year 2007 Awards. I thought that it might be interesting to guess what the GBA game of the year might have been if Gamespot will considered the platform.

GBA games released in 2007:

Dogz 2

Meet the Robinsons

Petz Vet

TMNT  Gamespot's score 8.1

Drake and Josh

Nickelodeon Vol. 1 4-pack

Frisbee/Frisbee Golf

Zoey 101

Finding Nemo / Incredibles Double Pack

Ghost Rider  Gamespot's score 7.8

F24: Stealth Fighter

Final Fantasy VI Advance  Gamespot's score 8.9

Dora the Explorer Double Pack

Arthur and the Invisibles

Spiderman 3

Major League Baseball 2K7

Surf's Up

Broken Circle

Ratatouille

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Cars Mater-National

For the poll, obviously I'm giong to cut it down to five finalists. The top scoring games of this year and two of the most anticipated/ most interesting looking games will be included. Obviously, Double Packs and licensed schlock are easy to cut. Since this is only a prediction, I apologize if you disagree with the five finalists.

Please post a comment explaining your choice.