http://ps3.ign.com/articles/937/937162p1.html
Wii Exclusives in 2008
This was a ...strange... year for Wii owners. On one hand, Nintendo has aggressively expanded in the market, forging forwards in the sales charts off the back of massive successes with Wii Fit and the continued popularity of the Wii Sports pack-in. Of course, unless you count yourself amongst the most banal of mainstream Wii-owning society (and come on, you're reading IGN, so clearly you've impeccable taste and common sense), then jaunts of Wii Fit and the occasional tennis match just aren't enough to keep you going long-term. You need more. And no, you don't want another half-assed port of a PlayStation 2 game that's ugly as sin and plays terribly. You want quality, and as far as the Wii is concerned, that means you need titles developed exclusively for the system to take advantage of its unique controls and *ahem* special technical abilities.
Wii Exclusive Title Review Score
Boom Blox 8.1 [US]
Castlevania Judgment 7.5 [US]
de Blob 8.4 [US]
Disaster: Day of Crisis 8.0 [UK]
Endless Ocean 8.1 [AU]
Mario Kart Wii 7.9 [AU]
No More Heroes 8.5 [AU]
Samba de Amigo 7.5 [US]
Skate It 8.5 [US]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 9.3 [AU]
Wario Land: The Shake Dimension 8.3 [AU]
Wii Fit 8.3 [AU]
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure 9.1 [AU]
This year, 15 Wii exclusive titles stood out in our eyes (officially defined as scoring more than 7.5) as deserving of your attention. Of these, Super Smash Bros. Brawl stands as about the best, at 9.3. With Brawl, Nintendo has once again demonstrated its fundamentally unmatched breadth of characters and franchises, giving players a stupidly large amount of content to unlock, while also providing fans of the previous games plenty to chew on. The general consensus is that Melee still stands as the most polished of the fighting games, but nobody can challenge Brawl's variety.
In terms of original content, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure hit Australia at the start of the year, and stunned us with its originality and inventive mechanics. Sure, it's a little cutesy on the surface, but it has the gameplay to back it up. It's a great puzzle game and genuinely different from basically everything else out there. No More Heroes opened the door to more avant-garde, adult gaming from creator Suda 51. It took elements of open-world, sandbox adventures and married it to a strange and entertaining story of assassinations and, erm, lawn mowing. Certainly, the Wii has pushed gameplay into strange, new territories and once in a while, developers still take risks.
Must-Buy Wii Exclusives of 2008:
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Melee
&
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
Xbox 360 Exclusives in 2008
There really can't be much debate that the Xbox 360 has had a great 2008. Looking at our Top Games of 2008 list, seven of the ten games are available on Xbox 360. There is, however, another side to the console; a side where its performance isn't quite as strong, and that's in the area of exclusives. Now, don't get us wrong, the 360 had its share of strong exclusive titles, such as Fable II and Gears of War 2, but did it have enough to give it the edge over the PS3 and the Wii? Does it have the breadth of exclusives to make it appealing to a wide audience? Has Microsoft's efforts to secure more exclusive content that will appeal to Japan paid off? Will we stop asking questions? Yes.
Xbox 360 Exclusive Title Review Score
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts 8.0 [AU]
Fable II 9.2 [AU]
Gears of War 2 8.9 [AU]
Lost Odyssey 8.0 [AU]
Naruto: The Broken Bond 8.3 [US]
Ninja Gaiden II 8.0 [AU]
Tales of Vesperia 8.2 [US]
Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise 8.6 [AU]
Looking at the numbers, the Xbox 360 only had eight exclusive titles this year that scored over 7.5 on IGN. Not only that, but only one of those games cracked 9 out of 10, and that's Fable II at 9.2. Gears of War II was awarded 8.9, and from there the scores continue to slide down to 8.0. Of course, 8.0 isn't a bad score anything scoring an 8.0 or above is certainly worth playing, but system exclusives are meant to be killer apps the games that your friends with other consoles pretend they don't care they're missing out on, when they really do.
The good news for Xbox 360's exclusives is that while many of them would be regarded as relatively hardcore, that's not necessarily true. Sure, Gears of War 2 is a gory testosterone-packed shooter, but it has a pretty wide appeal. And although Fable II is an action RPG, it was designed to be as accessible as possible, and has been a huge sales success this is a game that everyone wants to play. Naruto: Broken Bond is also a smart exclusive to nab (even though there are Naruto titles on every system), given how massive that series is. Then there's Rare. Both its titles in 2008 are a few lateral steps askew of normal genres, so there's a definite point of difference there.
The other exclusives on the list see Microsoft trying to make headway in Japan, with very J-centric titles (Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia), while Ninja Gaiden II is a game designed to appeal to the gamers who have supported the Xbox name from day one.
The approach is right, but the system was let down by a few significant failures. Too Human finally came out, but only warranted a 6.5 from our very own Patch Kolan, while the US team felt pretty lukewarm about Microsoft's first Great Mainstream Hope of 2008, Lips, giving it 6.8, and the less said about MS's second Great Mainstream Hope of 2008, You're in the Movies, which scored 4.2, the better. Of course, it's not out yet in Australia, so it should probably be stricken from the record. The point is, of course, that Microsoft still struggles when it comes to delivering high quality breakthrough titles for the truly casual market.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Must-Buy Xbox 360 Exclusives of 2008:
Fable II
&
Gears of War 2
PS3 Exclusives in 2008
The PlayStation 3 has had a booming year of great exclusive games in 2008 - a strong showing for a console that was once truly on the back foot in the market and not particularly in the favour of many developers, thanks to the complex architecture. A lot of this recent success can be attributed to games that have either had extended periods in development (since early in the console's life) or are sequels to launch titles, created by teams who are now familiar with the cell processor architecture.
PS3 Exclusive Title Review Score
Buzz! Quiz TV 8.9 [US]
Everybody's Golf: World Tour 8.9 [US]
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 8.3 [AU]
LittleBigPlanet 9.2 [AU]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 9.5 [AU]
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift 8.9 [AU]
Resistance 2 9.3 [AU]
SingStar Vol. 2 8.0 [AU]
Siren: Blood Curse 8.4 [US]
Valkyria Chronicles 9.1 [AU]
Of these, no other game managed to capture the imaginations of PlayStation 3 fans in 2008 like Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 4. MGS4 took the complex and often strange story of Solid Snake and closed it out beautifully, with incredible production values that are still mostly unrivalled. The game really displayed what the PS3 was capable of, and the clear storage benefits of Blu-ray that the 360 and Wii just couldn't match.
Insomniac really delivered some great content too Resistance 2 was a tremendous sequel, off the back of the must-have game at the PS3's launch. Resistance 2 follows Nathan Hale on his missions through the ruined city streets of 1950s mid-western America. The game raises the bar in terms of multiplayer and co-operative content too including an original campaign for eight players and a multiplayer mode that allows up to 60 gamers at one time to converge and wreak mayhem. Jolly good fun.
Media Molecule is another great example of a third party developer really coming to the table early to reap great rewards. LittleBigPlanet ended up being the all-ages darling in the eye of Sony Computer Entertainment. This is a game developed from scratch to demonstrate the social as well as technological benefits of the system over that of its competitors. It had a style so striking and infectious that its influence could be felt in the products of competing game companies like Rare and even Nintendo.
Sony has certainly done well to retain many of its ties to third parties over the years even if games like Final Fantasy have started to make their way onto Nintendo and Microsoft consoles. Even so, Sony itself is responsible for some mammoth first-party hit titles, so prevalent in the marketplace that their selling power cannot be ignored.
Of these, SingStar has proven to be the biggest and most consistent mainstream release, pitting players against each other in a classic sing-off to the beat of all kinds of genres of music. The Buzz! series has also been a big hit with younger players and families in the same kind of casual way that Nintendo has seen with Wii Sports and the Mario Party and Kart series.
Hardcore gamers have just as much reason to be happy in 2008, thanks to releases like Siren: Blood Curse and Valkyria Chronicles - two more exclusive and excellent mature games. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue caps off the list with a taste of what to expect when Polyphony Digital finally puts the finishing touches on the much anticipated racer.
All told, 2008 was Sony's year in terms of exclusives, and it bodes well for 2009 and beyond.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Must-Buy PS3 Exclusives of 2008:
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
&
Resistance 2
&
LittleBigPlanet
&
Valkyria Chronicles
OVERALL WINNER: Playstaton 3
Wii Exclusives in 2008
This was a ...strange... year for Wii owners. On one hand, Nintendo has aggressively expanded in the market, forging forwards in the sales charts off the back of massive successes with Wii Fit and the continued popularity of the Wii Sports pack-in. Of course, unless you count yourself amongst the most banal of mainstream Wii-owning society (and come on, you're reading IGN, so clearly you've impeccable taste and common sense), then jaunts of Wii Fit and the occasional tennis match just aren't enough to keep you going long-term. You need more. And no, you don't want another half-assed port of a PlayStation 2 game that's ugly as sin and plays terribly. You want quality, and as far as the Wii is concerned, that means you need titles developed exclusively for the system to take advantage of its unique controls and *ahem* special technical abilities.
Wii Exclusive Title Review Score
Boom Blox 8.1 [US]
Castlevania Judgment 7.5 [US]
de Blob 8.4 [US]
Disaster: Day of Crisis 8.0 [UK]
Endless Ocean 8.1 [AU]
Mario Kart Wii 7.9 [AU]
No More Heroes 8.5 [AU]
Samba de Amigo 7.5 [US]
Skate It 8.5 [US]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 9.3 [AU]
Wario Land: The Shake Dimension 8.3 [AU]
Wii Fit 8.3 [AU]
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure 9.1 [AU]
This year, 15 Wii exclusive titles stood out in our eyes (officially defined as scoring more than 7.5) as deserving of your attention. Of these, Super Smash Bros. Brawl stands as about the best, at 9.3. With Brawl, Nintendo has once again demonstrated its fundamentally unmatched breadth of characters and franchises, giving players a stupidly large amount of content to unlock, while also providing fans of the previous games plenty to chew on. The general consensus is that Melee still stands as the most polished of the fighting games, but nobody can challenge Brawl's variety.
In terms of original content, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure hit Australia at the start of the year, and stunned us with its originality and inventive mechanics. Sure, it's a little cutesy on the surface, but it has the gameplay to back it up. It's a great puzzle game and genuinely different from basically everything else out there. No More Heroes opened the door to more avant-garde, adult gaming from creator Suda 51. It took elements of open-world, sandbox adventures and married it to a strange and entertaining story of assassinations and, erm, lawn mowing. Certainly, the Wii has pushed gameplay into strange, new territories and once in a while, developers still take risks.
Must-Buy Wii Exclusives of 2008:
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Melee
&
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
Xbox 360 Exclusives in 2008
There really can't be much debate that the Xbox 360 has had a great 2008. Looking at our Top Games of 2008 list, seven of the ten games are available on Xbox 360. There is, however, another side to the console; a side where its performance isn't quite as strong, and that's in the area of exclusives. Now, don't get us wrong, the 360 had its share of strong exclusive titles, such as Fable II and Gears of War 2, but did it have enough to give it the edge over the PS3 and the Wii? Does it have the breadth of exclusives to make it appealing to a wide audience? Has Microsoft's efforts to secure more exclusive content that will appeal to Japan paid off? Will we stop asking questions? Yes.
Xbox 360 Exclusive Title Review Score
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts 8.0 [AU]
Fable II 9.2 [AU]
Gears of War 2 8.9 [AU]
Lost Odyssey 8.0 [AU]
Naruto: The Broken Bond 8.3 [US]
Ninja Gaiden II 8.0 [AU]
Tales of Vesperia 8.2 [US]
Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise 8.6 [AU]
Looking at the numbers, the Xbox 360 only had eight exclusive titles this year that scored over 7.5 on IGN. Not only that, but only one of those games cracked 9 out of 10, and that's Fable II at 9.2. Gears of War II was awarded 8.9, and from there the scores continue to slide down to 8.0. Of course, 8.0 isn't a bad score anything scoring an 8.0 or above is certainly worth playing, but system exclusives are meant to be killer apps the games that your friends with other consoles pretend they don't care they're missing out on, when they really do.
The good news for Xbox 360's exclusives is that while many of them would be regarded as relatively hardcore, that's not necessarily true. Sure, Gears of War 2 is a gory testosterone-packed shooter, but it has a pretty wide appeal. And although Fable II is an action RPG, it was designed to be as accessible as possible, and has been a huge sales success this is a game that everyone wants to play. Naruto: Broken Bond is also a smart exclusive to nab (even though there are Naruto titles on every system), given how massive that series is. Then there's Rare. Both its titles in 2008 are a few lateral steps askew of normal genres, so there's a definite point of difference there.
The other exclusives on the list see Microsoft trying to make headway in Japan, with very J-centric titles (Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia), while Ninja Gaiden II is a game designed to appeal to the gamers who have supported the Xbox name from day one.
The approach is right, but the system was let down by a few significant failures. Too Human finally came out, but only warranted a 6.5 from our very own Patch Kolan, while the US team felt pretty lukewarm about Microsoft's first Great Mainstream Hope of 2008, Lips, giving it 6.8, and the less said about MS's second Great Mainstream Hope of 2008, You're in the Movies, which scored 4.2, the better. Of course, it's not out yet in Australia, so it should probably be stricken from the record. The point is, of course, that Microsoft still struggles when it comes to delivering high quality breakthrough titles for the truly casual market.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Must-Buy Xbox 360 Exclusives of 2008:
Fable II
&
Gears of War 2
PS3 Exclusives in 2008
The PlayStation 3 has had a booming year of great exclusive games in 2008 - a strong showing for a console that was once truly on the back foot in the market and not particularly in the favour of many developers, thanks to the complex architecture. A lot of this recent success can be attributed to games that have either had extended periods in development (since early in the console's life) or are sequels to launch titles, created by teams who are now familiar with the cell processor architecture.
PS3 Exclusive Title Review Score
Buzz! Quiz TV 8.9 [US]
Everybody's Golf: World Tour 8.9 [US]
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 8.3 [AU]
LittleBigPlanet 9.2 [AU]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 9.5 [AU]
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift 8.9 [AU]
Resistance 2 9.3 [AU]
SingStar Vol. 2 8.0 [AU]
Siren: Blood Curse 8.4 [US]
Valkyria Chronicles 9.1 [AU]
Of these, no other game managed to capture the imaginations of PlayStation 3 fans in 2008 like Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 4. MGS4 took the complex and often strange story of Solid Snake and closed it out beautifully, with incredible production values that are still mostly unrivalled. The game really displayed what the PS3 was capable of, and the clear storage benefits of Blu-ray that the 360 and Wii just couldn't match.
Insomniac really delivered some great content too Resistance 2 was a tremendous sequel, off the back of the must-have game at the PS3's launch. Resistance 2 follows Nathan Hale on his missions through the ruined city streets of 1950s mid-western America. The game raises the bar in terms of multiplayer and co-operative content too including an original campaign for eight players and a multiplayer mode that allows up to 60 gamers at one time to converge and wreak mayhem. Jolly good fun.
Media Molecule is another great example of a third party developer really coming to the table early to reap great rewards. LittleBigPlanet ended up being the all-ages darling in the eye of Sony Computer Entertainment. This is a game developed from scratch to demonstrate the social as well as technological benefits of the system over that of its competitors. It had a style so striking and infectious that its influence could be felt in the products of competing game companies like Rare and even Nintendo.
Sony has certainly done well to retain many of its ties to third parties over the years even if games like Final Fantasy have started to make their way onto Nintendo and Microsoft consoles. Even so, Sony itself is responsible for some mammoth first-party hit titles, so prevalent in the marketplace that their selling power cannot be ignored.
Of these, SingStar has proven to be the biggest and most consistent mainstream release, pitting players against each other in a classic sing-off to the beat of all kinds of genres of music. The Buzz! series has also been a big hit with younger players and families in the same kind of casual way that Nintendo has seen with Wii Sports and the Mario Party and Kart series.
Hardcore gamers have just as much reason to be happy in 2008, thanks to releases like Siren: Blood Curse and Valkyria Chronicles - two more exclusive and excellent mature games. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue caps off the list with a taste of what to expect when Polyphony Digital finally puts the finishing touches on the much anticipated racer.
All told, 2008 was Sony's year in terms of exclusives, and it bodes well for 2009 and beyond.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Must-Buy PS3 Exclusives of 2008:
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
&
Resistance 2
&
LittleBigPlanet
&
Valkyria Chronicles
OVERALL WINNER: Playstaton 3
