An Associated Press tech writer gives his impressions of the new 360 titles out.
If you've scored an Xbox 360, some actual games are going to be the next logical purchase — unless you auctioned it off for thousands of dollars on eBay.
We've worn our fingers to the bone the past few weeks (just for you) playing through the 18 titles available when the system launched. While the offering is diverse, many of the games are merely visually tweaked versions from the older consoles. Worse, Xbox 360 games can cost a whopping $60 — roughly $10 more than games for older systems.
Microsoft stated that they will not replace any video games that are scratched from the Xbox 360 console. They will however, offer free copies of Perfect Dark Zero.
Although support for the Xbox 360 was added to Team XLink's free Kai game tunnel service some time ago, we have been reluctant to announce official support until we have received credible confirmation from our users. Today, [XNZ]Forgiven has confirmed that Perfect Dark Zero runs on Kai! We have also had reports from other users that Halo 2 is running fine as well. Sincere thanks to all the early 360 owners who have been playing on Kai. We look forward to seeing everyone else on November 22nd.
' IGN Entertainment's GamerMetrics is a business intelligence tool that tracks the awareness and activity of over 25 million gamers '
Following is how these games rank in terms of the amount of awareness they are generating with the millions of consumers seeking information about these titles on three of the leading video game web sites: IGN.com, GameSpy.com, and TeamXbox.com.
XBox 360 Launch Titles Buzz Ranked by GamerMetrics:
1. Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft)
2. Dead or Alive 4 (Tecmo)
3. Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
4. Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft)
Being the most important launch title for Microsoft, it must have been quite the drama in the MS camp when it became clear that Perfect Dark Zero would not make launch day…at least not the normal way. So in order to guarantee Xbox 360 launch-day availability, Microsoft sent the game to manufacture before it had passed certification. This was a huge gamble, if the game hadn’t passed certification; Microsoft would have been left with 700,000 useless copies of the game.
The certification process is the final stage a game goes through before manufacture. Here the games are thoroughly tested to make sure there are no bugs, that menus all work correctly, and that there are no compatibility issues. If any bugs are discovered the games are sent back to publishers and developers for changes. The process can take days, or even weeks.
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