Xbox Safe as Microsoft Looks to Xbox 360

Most of the big publishers have already signed on, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Microsoft is dropping the Xbox any time soon.

While Sony and Microsoft are collectively responsible for piles of top-selling games of their own, few would argue that third-party publishers are equally, if not more, important for the success of their hardware. And to show that it's not going to suffer with a lack of publisher support, Microsoft has sent out notice to make sure everyone knows that the big game creators are on board for Xbox 360.

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Future Xbox 360 owners can look forward to games from all the best-known players in the industry, including: Activision (publisher of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series); Capcom (Resident Evil); Codemasters (Colin McRae Rally); Eidos (Tomb Raider); EA (FIFA); Konami (Metal Gear Solid); LucasArts (Star Wars franchise); Namco (Soul Calibur); Rockstar (Grand Theft Auto); Sega (Sonic); Tecmo (Dead or Alive); THQ (WWE franchise); Ubisoft (Splinter Cell) and many more.

"This stellar line-up of publishers and developers is poised to deliver games experiences our customers only dreamed were possible and is ultimately committed to elevating video games to be the number one form of entertainment," said Microsoft vice-president Peter Moore.

Microsoft is, however, not relying entirely on outside help and all of its internal and affiliated development teams are already hard at work on new games for Xbox 360.

Microsoft Game Studios is composed of several renowned studios including: BioWare (Jade Empire); Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham Racing), Bungie (Halo), Epic (Unreal Championship), FASA (MechAssault); Lionhead (Fable), Rare (Conker), and also Yoshiki Okamoto (Street Fighter) and Game Republic; Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) and Mistwalker; and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez) and Q Entertainment.

Not ready for the next generation? Microsoft plans
to support Xbox until at least 2007

But at the same time as Microsoft is touting Xbox 360 and the HD Era it hopes to kick off with the new console, the company is also making sure people know it is committed to supporting its current hardware.

Since before Christmas, Microsoft has been suffering with stock problems for the Xbox. A shortage of PlayStation 2s led to an unexpected surge in Xbox demand, which has left the company reeling and retailers without hardware to sell. With Xbox 360 expected by the end of the year, many speculated that Microsoft was letting Xbox stock dwindle on purpose.

For its part, Microsoft is insistent that the shortage is related to genuine production problems.

"The situation is that we're still not meeting demand - but in four-to-six weeks the situation will be much healthier," commented UK Xbox boss Neil Thompson, speaking about the supply issue with MCV in March.

Those content with Microsoft's current hardware shouldn't be too concerned either as the flow of games isn't being stopped any time soon. Microsoft has confirmed that we can expect to see games coming out on Xbox well into the future - until 2007 at least.

The Xbox stock problems is particularly important because it's not known yet whether Xbox 360 will be able to play Xbox games. Of the three hardware companies, only Nintendo has confirmed that Revolution will be able to play GameCube games, while it's widely presumed, but not confirmed, that PlayStation 3 will handle PlayStation 2 software.

All eyes are now trained on next month's E3 conference in Los Angles. Microsoft and Sony will hold their annual pre-E3 conferences on Monday, May 16th, and both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are expected to be unveiled.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games