So, of the entire list, only five are exclusive: Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, Ridge Racer 7, Resistance: Fall of Man, Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, and Genji: Days of the Blade.
In contrast, the 360 had nine console exclusives (some were available on PC) for Day 1 last November. The Nintendo Wii will have eight exclusives on Day 1, discounting the quasi-ports (which some may call exclusive, like Far Cry Vengeance or Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam).
This is a really poor effort from Sony. Nothing in the launch lineup screams "must have." Though to be fair, the 360 didn't have it much better on Day 1.
Sony has lost a number of exclusive games, none bigger than Assassins Creed, which will also be released on the Xbox 360 and PC. There is no doubt that losing the Grand Theft Auto 4 exclusivity will hurt Sony as well.
In my mind, this leaves only three major exclusives for the PS3: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, and Virtua Fighter 5. I believe the day of exclusive games is over, but each system does need its own strong showing of games. That day is far off in the future for the PS3.
Keeping with the same company, however, even the PSP had better software at launch. This is what the PSP had on Day 1:
Ape Escape: On the Loose
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
Dynasty Warriors
Gretzky NHL
Lumines
Metal Gear Acid
NBA
Need for Speed Underground: Rivals
NFL Street 2 Unleashed
Ridge Racer
Tiger Woods PGA Tour
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix
Twisted Metal: Head-On
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade
WipEout Pure
World Tour Soccer
Of those 16, nine were not ports, or ports with content added on to feel "fresh." Not only did the PSP have a great launch lineup, the software out for the PSP in the final four months of 2006 can only be described as "very strong."
Lumines II just came out, you know? Including Lumines II, there are some heavy hitters to have hit, or will hit before January.
It is a good time to be a PSP owner. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the PS3, as the best software is yet to come in 2007, and some is as far off as 2008.
It is going to be very hard to justify that $600 purchase. That is, if you can find a unit at launch. Good luck!
Article comments
1 - wratty
scrub ridge racer off the list! that was out on the 360 at launch too!
2 - Al
yeah seems expensive is it really worth it?
you can just buy it in two years it might be cheaper but the medal gear solid game looks cool
3 - Ken Edwards
but, but, ridge racer 7 is gonna have new stuff like drafting, and, and, car customization! yea, its gonna be, like, so different!
4 - Matt Paprocki
I seriously cannot fathom why people are so excited for this launch. Game wise, it's a disaster, and the only benefit is the Blu-Ray capabilities. I've tried to convince myself I want one, and come away more disappointed each time.
5 - Lee
When you work out the costs the playstation comes with blu ray built in , plus no costs to play games online its not a bad price. The Xbox 360 is £270 in the UK plus another £100 odd for the HDDVD plus £50 per yeat to go online. I still think there will be class games for the playstation 3 and the hardware is way out there.
6 - Ken Edwards
There will always be those who chose the PlayStation product over everything else. But in my case, I don't care about Blu-ray or HD-DVD. I like the fact that MS is giving me the choice of NOT having to pay for it.
And mark my words. Xbox Live for $50 a year will trounce any free Internet gaming service Sony has for free. I think Xbox Live is up to its sixth version by now. I will gladly pay for a *unified* gaming system.
Why Sony has not unified their online strategy makes no sense to me at all.
7 - Ty
"It is going to be very hard to justify that $600 purchase."
Not for me. I already have the HD-DVD addon, and now I want a cheap blu-ray player, both which complement my Samsung 1080p TV (Which accepts 1080p over many different inputs) perfectly.
8 - Ty
If demand exceeds supply, how is it a bad thing FROM SONY'S PERSPECTIVE.
Everyone loves pulling a "Cartmanland" (you know, the South Park Episode where Cartman buys a theme park and advertises that he is the only person allowed in to enjoy it. It created mass interest in his park).
It worked for 360 (although MS claims it was not intentional), and it'll work for PS3.
It would be nice to have great launch titles, but these days it just doesn't seem to happen. Besides, with the demand for PS3 (in spite of many news stories that might deter it), do they really need a good launch lineup?
9 - Matt Paprocki
Lee: The system will have tons of great software down the line. What I'm not grasping is why there's this mass panic amongst people who can't get one at launch. There is nothing making that system worthwhile at launch, especially when you look at the lineup for the other consoles this year.
Ty makes a fine point if BluRay is something you want this year. From a gaming perspective, I'm not seeing it.
10 - Ken Edwards
Yea, I agree with Ty's point on blu-ray, but I really didn't want to address that issue. This is mainly due to the fact that I don't really care about high def movies. Yet.
Dipping into the BD debate though. I think Sony has yet another chance (like they did with DVD) to push a new technology for cheap, and it will likely work.
11 - daniel
I have a PS3 reserved for launch and have decided to not get it. First off the launch lineup is a disaster and has anyone looked at the releases for the 360 for the next year. There is only one game I can really see for the PS3 and that's Metal Gear Solid 4, but is one game or two that are exclusive worth a $600 price tag for, you would be out of your mind. Everything that's worth playing except for a couple of games the 360 will have and of course there's the Wii. And on the HD DVD BLU Ray battle, you need to check out what movie houses are signed on to do HD DVD, some really big names, Lord of the rings or Star Wars ring a bell, The only thing that Blue Ray will have over HD are Sony production and I can only watch Spiderman so many times and beside you can just upscale a regular DVD and have a great picture.
12 - Ricky
I really don't think its worth it, unless your a diehard dvd movie kinda person. The graphics and features are almost the same. For what, 200 dollars more? I think its a rip