G-pinions

If you ask any Xbox 360 owner right now what the big game coming out later this year for their system you'll get one answer: Gears of War. This is, apparently, the showcase title for the X360 this Christmas. The game that will ensure the X360 will continue to be impossible to find while fending off the Revolution and PlayStation 3 single-handedly. Not only is this the huge title, but until the announcement of Viva Pinata yesterday, it was the only big title scheduled for release later this year. It must be great, right? It must be the perfect title to fill our shooting needs until Halo 3 comes out next year, right? Right?

I honestly do not understand this hype. This is the very definition of a media-fueled, or more accurately a media-forced, hype fest. I can't blame magazines and websites for hyping this title. They have no choice but to if they want to attract X360 fans. But is there any reason to actually be excited about this game? Other than the fact that it looks amazing, what exactly is the appeal? It's just another shooter developed by a team that is known for twitch shooters - something the X360 does not exactly excel at.

Man, I hope that Viva Pinata really takes off. Not just because I love Rare, but because I am getting really sick of Microsoft's strategy in this industry. They continually talk about the core gamer - apparently they are too lazy to say hardcore - and how they have already built a solid fanbase just from them. Am I missing something here or does the Xbox just attract fans of shooters and racing games? Aren't those, along with sports, the titles the casual, mainstream sect eats up? Not that there's anything wrong with those genres, but shouldn't you have another genre or two. Can anyone name two Japanese RPGs on the Xbox? I know I shouldn't be rooting for one company over another, but I really hope Sony and Nintendo crush MS this Christmas. I can't take another generation of owning a system just to play first person shooters, while the rest of my time is spent playing every other genre on the other systems. Yes, MS has built a solid fanbase with the amazing Halo franchise, but they aren't exactly pushing the limits of gaming.

With the unprecedented effort Sony and its many 3rd party partners gave us with the PS2 and Nintendo trying something completely different with the Revolution, it's just hard for me to get excited about Microsoft and another shooter.